Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Cuts Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS reduced its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,441 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 822 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in KLA were worth $17,921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 300.0% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in KLA by 82.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $716.46 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $729.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $704.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, 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 current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $609.40 and a 12 month high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, equities analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna raised their price objective on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $830.67.

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.