KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Acquired by Syon Capital LLC

Syon Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 28.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,482 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KLAC. Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 52.8% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $530,630,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its holdings in KLA by 6,309.1% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 250,147 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,410,000 after acquiring an additional 246,244 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the fourth quarter worth $132,189,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in KLA by 6.4% during 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. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in KLA by 12.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,365,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $626,431,000 after acquiring an additional 153,752 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $720.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

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

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLA stock traded up $33.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $706.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,151,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 961,859. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $684.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $598.13. The firm has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.34. KLA Co. has a one year low of $369.00 and a one year high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.