Ninety One UK Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Ninety One UK Ltd decreased its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,016 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 7,901 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd owned about 0.06% of KLA worth $47,095,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. State Street Corp raised its holdings in KLA by 0.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,733,533 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,288,651,000 after purchasing an additional 47,838 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in KLA by 6.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,449,135,000 after purchasing an additional 190,355 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 10.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,844,959 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,133,396,000 after purchasing an additional 268,104 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 22.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $759,532,000 after acquiring an additional 385,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $733,249,000 after acquiring an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 2.2 %

KLAC stock opened at $644.22 on Friday. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $355.88 and a twelve month high of $729.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $87.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.72, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $684.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $591.62.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.38 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 29.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $688.42.

About KLA

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.