Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd Purchases New Shares in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 760 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth about $508,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth $218,000. Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at about $239,000. Finally, Copperwynd Financial LLC lifted its position in KLA by 1.5% in the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $700.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer raised shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $750.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $812.47.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $749.82 on Monday. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $581.70 and a twelve month 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 has a market capitalization of $100.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $666.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $721.89.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.34 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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