KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,350,000 shares, an increase of 17.1% from the February 13th total of 2,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 2.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on KLAC. UBS Group raised their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on KLA from $703.00 to $748.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays raised their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $830.67.

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KLA Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:KLAC traded down $9.97 on Friday, reaching $706.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,454,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,804. KLA has a 12-month low of $609.40 and a 12-month 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. The firm has a market cap of $93.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $729.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $703.53.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. KLA's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $1,175,756,000. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 381.3% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 733,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $462,085,000 after buying an additional 580,967 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 114,444.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 342,488 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $215,809,000 after buying an additional 342,189 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 33.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,191,262 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $750,638,000 after buying an additional 300,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $187,212,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

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.