State of Michigan Retirement System Lowers Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

State of Michigan Retirement System trimmed its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,568 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in KLA were worth $27,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of KLA by 2,033.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at $66,748,351.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total value of $5,953,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,399,800. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at $66,748,351.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,861 shares of company stock valued at $16,795,913 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Bank of America increased their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $747.40.

KLA Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $839.11 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $112.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $767.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $685.50. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $440.15 and a 52-week high of $876.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 23.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.38%.

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.