Legal & General Group Plc Sells 317,217 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 23.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,021,846 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 317,217 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in KLA were worth $643,886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. United Bank bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at $339,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 1,050.6% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,751 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,905,000 after purchasing an additional 3,425 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in KLA by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,593 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,557,000 after buying an additional 1,558 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $302,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in KLA by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,765,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,867,606.76. This trade represents a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna raised their target price on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $832.17.

KLA Trading Down 7.1 %

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $576.53 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $76.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $716.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $699.57. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $546.54 and a 1 year high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS 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%. Research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s payout ratio is 28.60%.

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.