Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC Grows Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,048 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in KLA by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,630,424,000 after purchasing an additional 145,317 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,647,708,000 after buying an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,487,971,000 after buying an additional 93,743 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in KLA by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,153,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $726,555,000 after acquiring an additional 64,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in KLA by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 945,835 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $732,464,000 after acquiring an additional 49,470 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $831.68.

KLA Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of KLAC opened at $711.29 on Friday. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $609.40 and a 12 month high of $896.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $722.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $711.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market cap of $94.52 billion, a PE ratio of 29.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. Equities analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. 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.