Ridgewood Investments LLC Buys 198 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 67.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 491 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,019 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 538.5% during the 3rd 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 increased its position in shares of KLA by 655.8% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 27,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $21,194,000 after purchasing an additional 23,747 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV increased its position in shares of KLA by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 79,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $61,769,000 after purchasing an additional 27,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of KLA by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,112 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on KLAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $925.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.47.

KLA Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded down $5.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $680.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 460,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,040,331. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $549.63 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $649.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $730.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.09, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 30.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.