Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 85,370 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 85,370 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.15% of KLA worth $8,496,833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in KLA by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $426,660,000 after buying an additional 2,019 shares during the last quarter. United Bank bought a new stake in KLA during the third quarter worth approximately $339,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in KLA by 2.8% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 582 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its position in KLA by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 2,761 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,138,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $413,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna boosted their price target on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $830.67.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the 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 owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,867,606.76. This trade represents a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded down $5.54 during trading on Thursday, reaching $700.00. The company had a trading volume of 732,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 952,161. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $609.40 and a 12 month high of $896.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $93.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The company's fifty day moving average price is $729.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $703.36.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. As a group, research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. KLA's payout ratio is 28.60%.

KLA 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.