Consolidated Planning Corp Grows Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Consolidated Planning Corp increased its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 713 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp’s holdings in KLA were worth $414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 163.9% in the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 95 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on KLAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on KLA in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target (up previously from $625.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $720.42.

KLA Trading Up 4.9 %

KLA stock traded up $33.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $706.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,193,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 821,545. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $685.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $600.67. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $369.00 and a twelve month high of $729.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.31% and a net margin of 27.19%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.49 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 22.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

KLA Profile

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.