California Public Employees Retirement System Has $152.16 Million Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 261,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 14,787 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in KLA were worth $152,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. CWM LLC grew its stake in KLA by 19.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,161 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $991,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in KLA by 40.4% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,129 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $518,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 5.7% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 427 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of KLA by 12.4% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 481 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $221,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, 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 value of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, 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 value of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KLAC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James lifted their target price on KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. UBS Group lifted their target price on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $688.42.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock traded up $13.88 on Tuesday, hitting $647.52. 116,672 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 951,494. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.56 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.34. KLA Co. has a one year low of $355.88 and a one year high of $729.15. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $683.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $595.92.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.46%.

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.