BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Has $64.94 Million Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 27.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 103,058 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 22,287 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S owned about 0.08% of KLA worth $64,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. BOS Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. BOS Asset Management LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $813,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA boosted its position in shares of KLA by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 67,634 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $42,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth $187,212,000. Curi RMB Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 2,036 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in KLA by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 775,472 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $488,679,000 after purchasing an additional 56,583 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at $20,867,606.76. This represents a 19.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

KLA Stock Up 4.5 %

KLA stock traded up $29.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $686.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 613,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,060,552. The company has a market capitalization of $91.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $688.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $687.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS 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, research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on KLA from $850.00 to $700.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of KLA from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $748.00 to $870.00 in a report on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $825.00 to $750.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays dropped their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $804.67.

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.