Smith Group Asset Management LLC Sells 77 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,616 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. KLA accounts for about 2.4% of Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $31,894,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of KLA by 2.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,630,424,000 after acquiring an additional 145,317 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 32,828.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,647,708,000 after buying an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,487,971,000 after buying an additional 93,743 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 25.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,083,684,000 after buying an additional 286,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 5.5% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 945,835 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $732,464,000 after buying an additional 49,470 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KLAC shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.47.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock opened at $702.92 on Wednesday. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $581.70 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The company has a market cap of $94.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.10, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $668.09 and its 200 day moving average is $719.63.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.74 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

About KLA

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.