Clarius Group LLC Has $757,000 Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Clarius Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 50.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,201 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position 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 increased its stake in KLA by 32,828.8% during the third 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,487,971,000 after acquiring an additional 93,743 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of KLA by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,083,684,000 after acquiring an additional 286,015 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,163,958 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $959,695,000 after purchasing an additional 21,412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $795.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $806.60.

KLA Trading Up 1.4 %

KLAC stock traded up $10.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $757.47. 1,402,515 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 925,800. KLA Co. has a one year low of $577.00 and a one year high of $896.32. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $654.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $724.46. The company has a market cap of $101.32 billion, a PE ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.27. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.74 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 30.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA's payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.