United Bank Makes New Investment in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

United Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 438 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in KLA by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $426,660,000 after buying an additional 2,019 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 538.5% in the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,765,000 after acquiring an additional 6,279 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its position in shares of KLA by 655.8% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 27,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $21,194,000 after acquiring an additional 23,747 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 16.0% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 76,951 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $53,756,000 after acquiring an additional 10,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of KLA by 39.0% in the third quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd now owns 5,882 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on KLAC. Argus boosted their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $802.90.

KLA Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $687.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.39, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50 day moving average is $731.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $763.72. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $505.50 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.91 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.48%.

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.