Allianz SE Acquires New Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Allianz SE bought a new position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,052 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,201,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in KLA by 82.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Trading Down 3.8 %

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $673.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $89.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $609.40 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $727.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $703.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. On average, analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total transaction of $5,078,136.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,867,606.76. This represents a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $825.39.

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.