Monte Financial Group LLC Purchases 211 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Monte Financial Group LLC raised its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,897 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at $297,000. AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth about $256,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter worth about $693,000. AlTi Global Inc. bought a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $285,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its position in KLA by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 109,663 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $84,365,000 after buying an additional 11,802 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KLAC. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $795.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on KLA from $750.00 to $700.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $925.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $806.35.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $749.82 on Friday. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $581.70 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $663.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $723.76.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s payout ratio 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.