Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Decreases Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,980 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 363 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in KLA were worth $3,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Swedbank AB increased its position in KLA by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $426,660,000 after buying an additional 2,019 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 538.5% in the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,765,000 after acquiring an additional 6,279 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its position in KLA by 655.8% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 27,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $21,194,000 after purchasing an additional 23,747 shares during the period. ING Groep NV boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 52.4% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 79,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,769,000 after buying an additional 27,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of KLA by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd now owns 5,882 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Down 4.7 %

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $614.46 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $721.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $762.59. KLA Co. has a one year low of $527.11 and a one year high of $896.32. The stock has a market cap of $82.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.13.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 30.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 26.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on KLAC. UBS Group dropped their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $925.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $802.90.

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.