KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.

Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 50.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,375 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,383 shares during the quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in KLA by 2.5% during the third 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 last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in KLA by 32,828.8% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,647,708,000 after acquiring an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in KLA by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,487,971,000 after acquiring an additional 93,743 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in KLA by 25.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,083,684,000 after purchasing an additional 286,015 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in KLA by 5.5% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 945,835 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $732,464,000 after purchasing an additional 49,470 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of KLA from $703.00 to $748.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $831.68.

KLA Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $754.30 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $708.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $715.83. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $609.40 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $100.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 forecast that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 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.