Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC lowered its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 989 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 232 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $625,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in KLA by 82.3% in the third 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $832.17.

KLA Trading Up 0.5 %

KLA stock opened at $686.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $722.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $701.74. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $609.40 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The stock has a market cap of $91.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. On average, equities analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,867,606.76. This trade represents a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.