Brighton Jones LLC Trims Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Brighton Jones LLC lowered its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 16.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,138 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,224 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $3,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on KLAC. StockNews.com cut KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Oppenheimer upgraded 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. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $700.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $806.35.

KLA Stock Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $760.95 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $581.70 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.75, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50-day moving average is $661.42 and its 200 day moving average is $723.50.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.34 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 31.05%.

About KLA

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.