Norway Savings Bank Reduces Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Norway Savings Bank cut its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,110 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 80 shares during the quarter. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 5,839 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,679,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 5,745 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,620,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 36.4% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 3,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,890,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,758 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,108,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 5.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 172,389 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $133,500,000 after buying an additional 8,830 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Oppenheimer upgraded KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $816.63.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC traded up $0.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $690.87. 599,940 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,004,834. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $649.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $731.80. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $548.84 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.13. The company has a market cap of $92.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.74 earnings per share. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 30.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. KLA’s 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.