Ridgewood Investments LLC Acquires 198 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 67.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 491 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in KLA by 82.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer upgraded KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $925.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com cut KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.47.

KLA Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of KLA stock traded down $5.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $680.89. 460,253 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,040,331. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.13. The company has a market cap of $91.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $649.99 and a 200-day moving average of $730.29. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $549.63 and a 12 month high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $1.70 dividend. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB and Component Inspection.