Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Reduces Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI cut its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 102,221 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 7,324 shares during the quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI’s holdings in KLA were worth $79,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $426,660,000 after acquiring an additional 2,019 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 538.5% in the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,765,000 after acquiring an additional 6,279 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 655.8% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 27,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $21,194,000 after acquiring an additional 23,747 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 52.4% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 79,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,769,000 after acquiring an additional 27,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,112 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KLAC. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays reduced their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on KLA from $870.00 to $800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $812.30.

KLA Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $648.34 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $687.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $754.35. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $530.07 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

KLA Profile

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.