Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 32.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 19,046 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $25,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in KLA by 2.5% in 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 period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 32,828.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,408,617 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 3.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 93,743 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in KLA by 25.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in KLA by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,163,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $959,695,000 after purchasing an additional 21,412 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on KLAC shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $925.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $806.35.

KLA Stock Up 0.6 %

KLAC stock opened at $771.91 on Thursday. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $581.70 and a twelve month high of $896.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The stock has a market cap of $103.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.25, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $658.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $723.16.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.37 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.