CWA Asset Management Group LLC Reduces Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 80.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 575 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,320 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in KLA by 55.2% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,722 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,719,000 after acquiring an additional 2,034 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in KLA by 2,002.3% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 925 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $763,000 after buying an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,143 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $942,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in KLA by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 68,184 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $56,218,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in KLA by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,459 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,027,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $686.20 on Thursday. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $549.63 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $649.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $730.60. The company has a market cap of $91.79 billion, a PE ratio of 31.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on KLA from $870.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $816.63.

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.