Martingale Asset Management L P Reduces Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Martingale Asset Management L P lowered its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 72.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,384 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 11,256 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in KLA were worth $3,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 32,828.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in KLA by 1.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,811,766 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,318,329,000 after purchasing an additional 28,172 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $1,083,684,000 after buying an additional 286,015 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,163,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $959,695,000 after buying an additional 21,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 5.5% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $925.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $815.55.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $647.03 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $699.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $757.61. The firm has a market cap of $86.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.29. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $527.11 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. 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 (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.74 EPS. On average, analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.91 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. KLA’s 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.