Foster & Motley Inc. Has $1.72 Million Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Foster & Motley Inc. trimmed its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,735 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 317 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 145,317 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,408,617 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 93,743 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 286,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 49,470 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $795.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays cut their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $700.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $812.47.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $742.43 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $671.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $718.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.13. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $581.70 and a 52-week 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. Research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $1.70 dividend. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.