L & S Advisors Inc Sells 167 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

L & S Advisors Inc lessened its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,141 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 167 shares during the quarter. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in KLA were worth $3,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC opened at $616.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $714.64 and a 200 day moving average of $761.76. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $527.11 and a fifty-two 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.

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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on KLAC. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays dropped 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $802.90.

KLA 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.