Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC Makes New Investment in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 334 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in KLA by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,630,424,000 after acquiring an additional 145,317 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 32,828.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,647,708,000 after buying an additional 3,408,617 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,487,971,000 after buying an additional 93,743 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in shares of KLA by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,394,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $953,774,000 after buying an additional 119,845 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of KLA by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,153,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $726,555,000 after buying an additional 64,238 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $711.29 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $722.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $710.04. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $609.40 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s payout ratio is 28.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on KLA from $703.00 to $748.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $831.68.

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.