Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Acquires New Shares in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,097 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,951,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in KLA by 82.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $725.00 price target (down previously from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of KLA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $748.00 to $870.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $832.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $576.53 on Friday. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $559.76 and a twelve month high of $896.32. 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 firm has a market cap of $76.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $716.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $700.07.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. 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.