First Trust Advisors LP Increases Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 744,240 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 112,863 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.56% of KLA worth $468,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 648 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,112 shares in the last quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter worth about $1,563,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its position in KLA by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 60,834 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $38,326,000 after purchasing an additional 8,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,190,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $634.43 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $695.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $690.92. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $551.33 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $84.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. On average, equities analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total transaction of $5,078,136.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,867,606.76. The trade was a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on KLAC shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $850.00 to $700.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised KLA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $748.00 to $870.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on KLA from $825.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $814.11.

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.