Alta Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 65 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Alta Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,834 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Alta Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in shares of KLA by 82.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in KLA in the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on KLAC shares. Barclays cut their price target on KLA from $750.00 to $700.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer raised KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $925.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $821.95.

KLA Trading Up 4.1 %

KLA stock opened at $742.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $671.76 and a 200-day moving average of $718.50. The company has a market cap of $99.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a one year low of $581.70 and a one year high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. On average, equities analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 31.05%.

About KLA

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.