Csenge Advisory Group Sells 72 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Csenge Advisory Group lessened its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,238 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Csenge Advisory Group’s holdings in KLA were worth $780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of KLA by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,630,424,000 after acquiring an additional 145,317 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 32,828.8% during the 3rd 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 grew its stake in KLA by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,487,971,000 after buying an additional 93,743 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in KLA by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,083,684,000 after buying an additional 286,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in KLA by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 945,835 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $732,464,000 after buying an additional 49,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $831.68.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $750.74 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $697.11 and a 200-day moving average of $714.23. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $609.40 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a market cap of $99.77 billion, a PE ratio of 31.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.60%.

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.