Factory Mutual Insurance Co. Increases Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lifted its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,052 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 7,252 shares during the period. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. owned approximately 0.05% of KLA worth $53,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $2,254,000. Beacon Financial Group bought a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Syon Capital LLC boosted its position in KLA by 28.3% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 1,482 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $862,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in KLA by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after acquiring an additional 386,810 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on KLAC. StockNews.com cut KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer started coverage on KLA in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $750.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $804.57.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC traded up $5.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $803.73. 570,837 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 918,066. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The company's fifty day moving average price is $771.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $763.84. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $452.01 and a 52-week high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.13 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. KLA's payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,873 shares of company stock valued at $14,532,193 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% 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.