Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Makes New $1.95 Million Investment in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,097 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $1,951,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in KLA by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 411 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in KLA by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 253 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in KLA by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 246 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its position in KLA by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 755 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 489 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on KLAC. UBS Group increased their target price on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $725.00 price objective (down from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of KLA from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $748.00 to $870.00 in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $832.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total transaction of $5,078,136.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at $20,867,606.76. This represents a 19.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock traded down $51.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $651.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,022,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,197,977. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $896.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $708.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $696.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. On average, analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.60%.

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.