KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by River Street Advisors LLC

River Street Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,332 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 81 shares during the quarter. KLA comprises approximately 1.0% of River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB lifted its position in KLA by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $426,660,000 after acquiring an additional 2,019 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 538.5% during the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,765,000 after purchasing an additional 6,279 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 23,747 shares during the period. ING Groep NV grew its holdings in KLA by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 79,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,769,000 after purchasing an additional 27,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in KLA by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd now owns 5,882 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,555,000 after buying an additional 1,651 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on KLAC. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Argus upped their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $802.90.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC stock traded down $30.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $614.46. The company had a trading volume of 1,712,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 961,993. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. KLA Co. has a one year low of $527.11 and a one year high of $896.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $721.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $762.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced 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 company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.74 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 30.91 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.