KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,660,000 shares, a decline of 15.0% from the January 15th total of 3,130,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer upgraded KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $831.68.

KLA Stock Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ KLAC traded down $13.54 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $750.74. 998,457 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,191,620. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market cap of $99.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.57, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average of $697.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $714.23. KLA has a 52-week low of $609.40 and a 52-week high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. Equities research analysts anticipate that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.91%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 38,981 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $24,580,000 after acquiring an additional 5,881 shares during the last quarter. Ethic Inc. boosted its holdings in KLA by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 14,473 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,120,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares in the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. increased its stake in KLA by 165.5% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 4,235 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,669,000 after purchasing an additional 2,640 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,494,000. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.