Fulton Bank N.A. Raises Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in KLA were worth $8,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in KLA in the third quarter worth $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KLAC. Susquehanna dropped their target price on KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of KLA from $870.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group dropped their target price on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $816.63.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock traded down $4.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $685.09. The stock had a trading volume of 287,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 994,414. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $549.63 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $649.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $730.91. The company has a market cap of $91.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 30.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.