KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) is Lafayette Investments Inc.’s 5th Largest Position

Lafayette Investments Inc. grew its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,329 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 94 shares during the quarter. KLA accounts for 2.8% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $11,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in KLA by 34.8% during the 4th quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,422,000 after buying an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its position in KLA by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,333 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $775,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd increased its position in KLA by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd now owns 15,620 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,080,000 after buying an additional 2,620 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in KLA by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,899 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,429,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in KLA by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 17,183 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,988,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI started coverage on KLA in a report on Tuesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James upped their target price on KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $688.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

KLA Trading Down 2.2 %

KLAC stock traded down $14.76 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $644.22. 902,684 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 961,445. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $684.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $591.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.12 billion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.34. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $355.88 and a 1-year high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 22.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.46%.

About KLA

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.