Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Acquires 200 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,679 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in KLA were worth $6,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in KLA by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 75 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in KLA by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 4.4% in the third quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 502 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MWA Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 683 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $397,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of KLAC stock traded up $21.79 on Monday, hitting $718.38. 873,635 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 957,633. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.14. KLA Co. has a one year low of $374.49 and a one year high of $729.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $688.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $610.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.33.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.49 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 23.24 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $722.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Profile

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.