Guinness Asset Management LTD Grows Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 29.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 56,744 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 12,861 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in KLA were worth $35,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in KLA by 82.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter valued at about $56,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KLAC. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer raised 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price 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, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Seven investment 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $806.60.

KLA Stock Up 1.4 %

KLAC opened at $757.47 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $101.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $577.00 and a twelve month 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $654.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $724.46.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.74 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 30.37 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.