Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Has $344.90 Million Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC cut its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 547,359 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 3,561 shares during the quarter. KLA accounts for 1.1% of Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $344,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Bank acquired a new position in KLA during the third quarter worth $339,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,054,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,483,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at about $382,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 43,274 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $33,570,000 after purchasing an additional 4,288 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total transaction of $5,078,136.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at $20,867,606.76. The trade was a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

KLA Trading Down 7.1 %

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $576.53 on Friday. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $559.76 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $716.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $700.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $76.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. As a group, analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $725.00 price target (down from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $832.17.

About KLA

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.