Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 193,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 33,408 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.14% of KLA worth $121,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 32,828.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,647,708,000 after acquiring an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in KLA by 76,452.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 302,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $234,168,000 after purchasing an additional 301,987 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew 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 purchasing an additional 286,015 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 6,188.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 239,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $185,397,000 after purchasing an additional 235,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in KLA by 10,766.7% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 228,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $176,720,000 after buying an additional 226,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays raised their price target on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $831.68.

KLA Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $764.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. KLA Co. has a one year low of $609.40 and a one year high of $896.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $692.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $715.14. The company has a market capitalization of $101.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be given a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.60%.

KLA 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.