Parnassus Investments LLC Decreases Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Parnassus Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 152,361 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 1,206 shares during the quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC owned 0.11% of KLA worth $117,990,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $379,678,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 76,452.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 302,382 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $234,168,000 after purchasing an additional 301,987 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of KLA by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,083,684,000 after purchasing an additional 286,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of KLA by 6,188.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 239,404 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $185,397,000 after purchasing an additional 235,597 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on KLAC shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup cut their price objective on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com raised KLA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group cut their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised KLA from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $802.90.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock traded down $4.60 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $615.66. 1,408,887 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 965,148. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $527.11 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $719.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $763.35. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. KLA's revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.91 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.48%.

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.