Empirical Finance LLC Has $2.97 Million Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Empirical Finance LLC lessened its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,720 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in KLA by 82.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $831.68.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $747.70 on Friday. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $608.16 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The stock has a market cap of $99.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $687.38 and a 200-day moving average of $716.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

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.