4,812 Shares in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Purchased by Trexquant Investment LP

Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,812 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,456,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of KLA by 34.2% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,198,127 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,977,699,000 after acquiring an additional 1,579,926 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,135,261 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,000,400,000 after buying an additional 237,581 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 82.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,833,553 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $857,517,000 after buying an additional 1,276,653 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 26.2% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,618,229 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $835,425,000 after buying an additional 543,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. now owns 1,398,287 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $446,165,000 after buying an additional 38,582 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.38% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC opened at $367.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.34. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $250.20 and a 52-week high of $429.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $397.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $363.61.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The semiconductor company reported $7.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.08 by $0.30. KLA had a return on equity of 145.21% and a net margin of 33.77%. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 26.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 24.26 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 13th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.38%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,020 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.47, for a total transaction of $388,079.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,352 shares in the company, valued at $24,103,535.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of a number of research reports. KGI Securities cut KLA from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. StockNews.com raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on KLA from $420.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Barclays cut KLA from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on KLA from $410.00 to $468.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.61.

KLA Company Profile

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KLA Corp. engages in the supply of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related nano-electronics industries. The company operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Process Control, Specialty Semiconductor Process, PCB, Display & Component Inspection, and Other.