Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 172,389 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 8,830 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of KLA worth $133,500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 77.3% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KLAC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group lowered their price target on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised KLA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $802.90.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on KLA
KLA Stock Up 0.2 %
KLAC stock traded up $1.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $687.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,278,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,220,755. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.13. The company has a market capitalization of $91.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $731.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $763.72. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $505.50 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32.
KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last released 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. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.74 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
KLA Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. This is an increase from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.48%.
About KLA
(
Free Report)
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.
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