KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Bought by Valmark Advisers Inc.

Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 25.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 643 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in shares of KLA by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 75 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KLAC. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $720.42.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $706.26 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $95.51 billion, a PE ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $685.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $601.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $369.00 and a twelve month high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.