Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. Buys 426 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) by 4.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,672 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of KLA by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 259,521 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $80,636,000 after acquiring an additional 1,709 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in KLA by 135.2% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 178,802 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $54,110,000 after purchasing an additional 102,766 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in KLA by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,785 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,448,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. boosted its stake in KLA by 98.5% in the 3rd quarter. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. now owns 4,840 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,402 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $707,000. 87.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,020 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.47, for a total transaction of $388,079.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 63,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,103,535.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC stock opened at $389.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $397.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $363.89. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $250.20 and a twelve month high of $429.46. The firm has a market cap of $53.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.38.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The semiconductor company reported $7.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.08 by $0.30. KLA had a return on equity of 145.21% and a net margin of 33.77%. The business had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 26.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 24.26 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. KLA’s payout ratio is 21.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on KLA from $420.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on KLA from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Barclays cut KLA from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $325.00 in a report on Monday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 12th. Finally, KGI Securities cut KLA from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.61.

About KLA

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KLA Corp. engages in the supply of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related nano-electronics industries. The company operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Process Control, Specialty Semiconductor Process, PCB, Display & Component Inspection, and Other.