SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Raises Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 94.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 996 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $628,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised 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 worth $4,630,424,000 after buying an additional 145,317 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $2,647,708,000 after purchasing an additional 3,408,617 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in KLA by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,487,971,000 after purchasing an additional 93,743 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in KLA by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,153,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $726,555,000 after purchasing an additional 64,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its position in KLA by 5.5% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 945,835 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $732,464,000 after purchasing an additional 49,470 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on KLAC. Barclays raised their price target on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna raised their price target on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on KLA from $703.00 to $748.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $831.68.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock opened at $691.15 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $717.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $713.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. The stock has a market cap of $91.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.06, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $609.40 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. KLA’s payout ratio is 28.60%.

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.