State Street Corp Grows Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 145,317 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned approximately 4.47% of KLA worth $4,630,424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,318,329,000 after purchasing an additional 28,172 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 286,015 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in KLA by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,163,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $959,695,000 after purchasing an additional 21,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 5.5% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 945,835 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $732,464,000 after buying an additional 49,470 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC opened at $666.22 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $693.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $756.00. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $527.11 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The firm has a market cap of $89.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 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 the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.91 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Oppenheimer raised shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup lowered their target price on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $925.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $815.55.

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.