KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Position Lifted by AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 15.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 60,834 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 8,028 shares during the quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in KLA were worth $38,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in KLA by 76,452.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 302,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $234,168,000 after purchasing an additional 301,987 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of KLA by 25.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 6,188.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 239,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $185,397,000 after buying an additional 235,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of KLA by 10,766.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 228,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $176,720,000 after buying an additional 226,100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KLAC. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $925.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Oppenheimer upgraded KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded 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 fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $806.35.

KLA Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of KLAC opened at $749.82 on Friday. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $581.70 and a 52 week high of $896.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $663.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $723.76. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.74 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.34 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

About KLA

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.