Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 85,370 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 85,370 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of KLA worth $8,496,833,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 300.0% in the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in KLA by 82.3% in the 3rd 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 period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays upped their price target on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $830.67.

KLA Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of KLAC opened at $706.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $93.88 billion, a PE ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a fifty day moving average of $729.52 and a 200 day moving average of $703.53. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $609.40 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.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.