Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Sells 232 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC reduced its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 989 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 232 shares during the period. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in KLA by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,239 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,041,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in KLA by 94.1% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 8,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,553,000 after purchasing an additional 4,248 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in KLA by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 26,363 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $16,612,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $754,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,046,472,000 after acquiring an additional 31,608 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays upped their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $832.17.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,867,606.76. The trade was a 19.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock opened at $686.19 on Thursday. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $609.40 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $722.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $701.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market cap of $91.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. As a group, analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s payout ratio is 28.60%.

About KLA

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.