Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Decreases Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 169,861 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 537 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned about 0.13% of KLA worth $140,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in KLA by 77.3% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in KLA by 2,033.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Argus lifted their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $812.80.

KLA Trading Up 5.7 %

KLAC stock opened at $772.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $440.15 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The stock has a market cap of $104.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.46, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average is $774.96 and its 200 day moving average is $754.38.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. KLA’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total value of $1,702,815.87. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares in the company, valued at $6,063,876.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other KLA news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total value of $1,702,815.87. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,063,876.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,644,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock worth $14,568,247. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company Profile

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.