180 Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

180 Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 76.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,074 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 3,414 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in KLA by 32,828.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,647,708,000 after acquiring an additional 3,408,617 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 76,452.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 302,382 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $234,168,000 after purchasing an additional 301,987 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in KLA by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,083,684,000 after purchasing an additional 286,015 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in KLA by 6,188.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 239,404 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $185,397,000 after purchasing an additional 235,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in KLA by 10,766.7% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 228,200 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $176,720,000 after purchasing an additional 226,100 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $925.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $795.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised KLA from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $809.10.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLA stock traded up $14.99 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $716.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,367,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,198,303. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.48. KLA Co. has a one year low of $552.85 and a one year high of $896.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $651.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $726.56. The stock has a market cap of $95.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 30.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. This is a positive change from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. KLA's payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

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.