Barclays PLC Sells 141,743 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Barclays PLC trimmed its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 14.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 846,997 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 141,743 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned about 0.63% of KLA worth $655,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $4,630,424,000 after buying an additional 145,317 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in KLA by 32,828.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,647,708,000 after acquiring an additional 3,408,617 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in KLA by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,811,766 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,318,329,000 after acquiring an additional 28,172 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of KLA by 25.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,083,684,000 after purchasing an additional 286,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,163,958 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $959,695,000 after purchasing an additional 21,412 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on KLAC. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of KLA from $870.00 to $800.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $812.30.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC traded up $4.03 on Monday, hitting $652.37. 1,092,830 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 976,701. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $687.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $754.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.26 billion, a PE ratio of 29.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $542.41 and a 52 week high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.75 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. The business's revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.74 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 30.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

About KLA

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.