Castellan Group Sells 406 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Castellan Group trimmed its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 5.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,634 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 406 shares during the period. KLA makes up 2.5% of Castellan Group’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Castellan Group’s holdings in KLA were worth $5,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its position in shares of KLA by 82.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on KLAC. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on KLA from $870.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer upgraded KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.30.

KLA Stock Down 0.9 %

KLAC traded down $5.71 during trading on Thursday, reaching $643.13. The stock had a trading volume of 105,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 973,910. KLA Co. has a one year low of $542.41 and a one year high of $896.32. The company has a market capitalization of $86.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.28. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $680.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $751.66.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

KLA Company 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.