Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 794 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 324,843 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $204,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter worth $29,000. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in KLA by 82.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in KLA in the third quarter worth about $38,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the third quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in KLA in the third quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $831.68.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC opened at $747.70 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $685.36 and a 200 day moving average of $716.53. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $608.16 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $100.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.44, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 30.8 EPS for the current year.

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.