KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by New Century Financial Group LLC

New Century Financial Group LLC cut its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 576 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 115 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $297,000. AE Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at $256,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in KLA in the second quarter valued at $693,000. AlTi Global Inc. purchased a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth about $285,000. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. raised 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 purchasing an additional 11,802 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $749.82 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $100.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $581.70 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The company’s fifty day moving average is $663.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $723.76.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The business’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.74 earnings per share. Analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 31.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $806.35.

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.