KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,660,000 shares, a drop of 15.0% from the January 15th total of 3,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,180,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on KLAC. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $831.68.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock traded down $13.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $750.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 998,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,191,620. KLA has a 12-month low of $609.40 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The company has a market capitalization of $99.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.57, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $697.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $714.23.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. Sell-side analysts predict that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of KLA by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,496,833,000 after purchasing an additional 85,370 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.5% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,273,118,000 after acquiring an additional 14,397 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 32,828.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,046,472,000 after acquiring an additional 31,608 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.