State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $40.80 Million Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,488 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 28,062 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in KLA were worth $40,803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 77.3% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total transaction of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,644,493.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $950.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $805.29.

KLA Trading Up 5.0 %

KLAC opened at $748.82 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.82 billion, a PE ratio of 39.23, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $440.15 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $789.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $752.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.38%.

About KLA

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.