Board of the Pension Protection Fund Takes Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 800 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $504,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $426,660,000 after purchasing an additional 2,019 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 538.5% in the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,765,000 after buying an additional 6,279 shares during the period. Eastern Bank lifted its position in KLA by 655.8% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 27,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $21,194,000 after buying an additional 23,747 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV lifted its position in KLA by 52.4% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 79,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,769,000 after buying an additional 27,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of KLA by 14.1% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,112 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $750.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer raised KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $809.10.

KLA Stock Up 1.5 %

KLA stock opened at $701.26 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $651.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $726.56. The stock has a market cap of $93.80 billion, a PE 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 current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.74 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.