Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Lowers Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS cut its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,441 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 822 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in KLA were worth $17,921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in KLA by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,084,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in KLA by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 73,266 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $46,166,000 after buying an additional 9,238 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of KLA by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 11,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,215,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,881,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of KLA by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 10,713 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,750,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $703.00 to $748.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $830.67.

KLA Trading Down 0.4 %

KLA stock opened at $716.46 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $729.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $704.58. 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 capitalization of $95.21 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $609.40 and a 12-month high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s payout ratio is 28.60%.

KLA 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.