Ayrshire Capital Management LLC Has $1.25 Million Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Ayrshire Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 71.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,979 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 4,936 shares during the period. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $1,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in KLA by 7.0% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,455 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $6,147,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,015 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,661,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in KLA by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,811,766 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,318,329,000 after acquiring an additional 28,172 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in KLA by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 691,039 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $569,758,000 after purchasing an additional 56,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at $794,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays reduced their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised KLA from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $809.10.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC traded up $10.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $701.26. The company had a trading volume of 1,038,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,177,908. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $650.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $727.43. The company has a market capitalization of $93.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $552.85 and a 1-year 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.74 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $1.70 dividend. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

KLA Company 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.