OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Trims Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lowered its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 49.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,085 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 8,755 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd's holdings in KLA were worth $7,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Choate Investment Advisors raised its stake in KLA by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 623 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in KLA by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 40,900 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $28,556,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in KLA by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $995,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its holdings in KLA by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 222 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in KLA in the 1st quarter valued at $3,997,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on KLAC. UBS Group decreased their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer raised KLA from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $802.90.

KLA Stock Down 1.1 %

KLA stock traded down $7.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $658.91. The stock had a trading volume of 345,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 951,641. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $524.03 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $728.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $765.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.14 billion, a PE ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.29.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. KLA's payout ratio is presently 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.