CreativeOne Wealth LLC Raises Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 119.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,520 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,761,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,112,261 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,159,832,000 after acquiring an additional 76,226 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in KLA by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,048,728,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in KLA by 25.7% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,017 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $720,936,000 after buying an additional 211,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 43.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 997,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $580,008,000 after buying an additional 301,848 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC traded up $34.75 on Friday, reaching $797.56. 395,786 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 902,761. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.38 billion, a PE ratio of 41.65, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a one year low of $440.15 and a one year high of $896.32. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $808.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $714.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 106.27%. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. Analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 28.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total value of $5,953,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,399,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,905 shares of company stock worth $16,831,966 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com cut KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of KLA from $765.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $802.80.

About KLA

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.