National Bank of Canada FI Grows Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 131,264 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,674 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in KLA were worth $101,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in KLA by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $426,660,000 after buying an additional 2,019 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 538.5% in the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,765,000 after acquiring an additional 6,279 shares during the period. Eastern Bank lifted its stake in KLA by 655.8% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 27,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $21,194,000 after acquiring an additional 23,747 shares during the period. ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in KLA by 52.4% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 79,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,769,000 after acquiring an additional 27,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in KLA by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,112 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KLAC. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group cut their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.30.

KLA Stock Up 0.9 %

KLAC stock opened at $648.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.48. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $530.07 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $687.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $754.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 30.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.