BSW Wealth Partners Acquires 30 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 387 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the quarter. BSW Wealth Partners’ holdings in KLA were worth $244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 3.7% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 366 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its position in KLA by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 384 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in KLA by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,433 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 0.4% in the third quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,466 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,459,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $795.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.47.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $712.97 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $669.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $718.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $581.70 and a 52 week high of $896.32. The stock has a market cap of $95.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.56, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.34 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

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.