Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Raises Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 37.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 140,927 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,713 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.11% of KLA worth $88,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in KLA by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,496,833,000 after buying an additional 85,370 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of KLA by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,630,424,000 after purchasing an additional 145,317 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,487,971,000 after buying an additional 93,743 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in KLA by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,394,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $953,774,000 after buying an additional 119,845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,153,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $726,555,000 after acquiring an additional 64,238 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock opened at $727.73 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $96.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $730.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $703.24. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $609.40 and a 1 year high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna increased their target price on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $830.67.

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.