West Oak Capital LLC Trims Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

West Oak Capital LLC reduced its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 58.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 235 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 2,002.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 925 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 28.4% in the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $827,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in KLA in the second quarter worth about $59,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in KLA by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 91,004 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $75,033,000 after purchasing an additional 4,879 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 15.2% during the second quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 37,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $31,249,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.47.

KLA Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC traded down $3.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $683.06. 1,254,451 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,177,575. The firm has a market cap of $91.37 billion, a PE ratio of 31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $649.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $730.29. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $549.63 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.