Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Invests $1.95 Million in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,097 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,951,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in shares of KLA by 82.3% in 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 during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on KLAC shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of KLA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $748.00 to $870.00 in a report on Monday, March 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. UBS Group increased their price target on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $832.17.

KLA Trading Down 7.1 %

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $576.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $76.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $559.76 and a 12 month high of $896.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $716.60 and a 200-day moving average of $700.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

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

KLA 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.