Trexquant Investment LP Has $4.78 Million Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Trexquant Investment LP decreased its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 62.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,217 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 13,577 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in KLA were worth $4,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in KLA by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 9,480 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,511,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in KLA by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $843,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,559,000. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in KLA by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,059,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its position in KLA by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 26,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $15,478,000 after buying an additional 1,692 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KLAC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, April 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target (up previously from $625.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $727.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,284 shares of company stock worth $17,260,138 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Stock Up 0.9 %

KLA stock opened at $771.71 on Thursday. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $404.80 and a twelve month high of $778.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $698.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $632.03. The company has a market capitalization of $103.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for 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%. KLA’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.49 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 23.3 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

KLA Company 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.