Capital Market Strategies LLC Lowers Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Capital Market Strategies LLC lowered its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 765 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 49 shares during the period. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of KLA by 2.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,630,424,000 after buying an additional 145,317 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 32,828.8% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,647,708,000 after purchasing an additional 3,408,617 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,487,971,000 after purchasing an additional 93,743 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,318,329,000 after buying an additional 28,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in KLA by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,083,684,000 after buying an additional 286,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on KLA from $870.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $816.63.

KLA Stock Up 5.0 %

Shares of KLAC stock traded up $32.96 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $689.97. 743,128 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 812,746. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $548.84 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $649.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $732.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s payout ratio is 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.