Hartford Investment Management Co. Has $6.55 Million Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Hartford Investment Management Co. decreased its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,461 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 163 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in KLA were worth $6,552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KLAC. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in KLA by 16.4% during the first quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 2,245 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,568,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN boosted its holdings in KLA by 80.7% in the first quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 318 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the first quarter worth about $280,000. RMR Wealth Builders bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter worth about $247,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 422 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Argus raised their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $804.57.

KLA Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:KLAC traded down $0.64 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $669.44. The company had a trading volume of 40,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 933,045. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.15. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $452.01 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The firm has a market cap of $90.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s fifty day moving average is $766.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $764.72.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.13 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. KLA’s payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,063,876.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,873 shares of company stock valued at $14,532,193 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.