Ninety One SA PTY Ltd Boosts Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Ninety One SA PTY Ltd grew its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,620 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,620 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up approximately 1.4% of Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd’s holdings in KLA were worth $9,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in KLAC. State Street Corp grew its position in KLA by 0.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,733,533 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,288,651,000 after acquiring an additional 47,838 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in KLA by 6.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,449,135,000 after acquiring an additional 190,355 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in KLA by 10.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,844,959 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,133,396,000 after acquiring an additional 268,104 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in KLA by 22.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $759,532,000 after acquiring an additional 385,420 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in KLA by 3.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $733,249,000 after acquiring an additional 54,472 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America upped their price target on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on KLA in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their price target on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $688.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded down $12.54 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $646.44. The company had a trading volume of 408,485 shares, compared to its average volume of 954,605. The company has a market capitalization of $87.42 billion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $355.88 and a 1-year high of $729.15. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $684.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $591.25.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $7.38 earnings per share. KLA’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is 29.46%.

About KLA

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.