Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,467 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 113 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in KLA were worth $7,226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in KLA by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 253 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its holdings in KLA by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 246 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 755 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in KLA by 1.1% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,433 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,110,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $738.52 on Thursday. KLA Co. has a one year low of $609.40 and a one year high of $896.32. The company has a market cap of $98.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.06, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $713.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $715.86.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. On average, research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. KLA’s payout ratio is 28.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer raised KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $831.68.

KLA Company Profile

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.