Schroder Investment Management Group Acquires 65,569 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 527,196 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 65,569 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned 0.40% of KLA worth $332,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of KLA by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $8,496,833,000 after buying an additional 85,370 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in KLA by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $4,630,424,000 after acquiring an additional 145,317 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $2,487,971,000 after purchasing an additional 93,743 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $1,175,756,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in shares of KLA by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,455,161 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $916,926,000 after purchasing an additional 292,907 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $725.00 target price (down from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $832.17.

KLA Trading Down 7.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded down $50.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $635.28. The stock had a trading volume of 333,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,004,759. The firm has a market cap of $84.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $722.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $701.74. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $609.40 and a 1 year high of $896.32.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.60%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at $20,867,606.76. This trade represents a 19.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

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.