Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 5,414 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Key Points

• Teachers Retirement System of the State of Kentucky reduced its KLA stake by 10%, selling 5,414 shares and finishing the quarter with 48,838 shares valued at about $59.34 million.
• KLA topped quarterly expectations with $8.85 EPS (vs. $8.75 consensus) and reported a ~35.8% net margin and 98.2% ROE; its board also authorized a $7 billion share repurchase (up to 3.7% of outstanding stock).
• Analysts have been raising targets recently and the stock holds a consensus Moderate Buy rating with a consensus price target of $1,624.07 (20 Buy vs. 11 Hold ratings).

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,838 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 5,414 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in KLA were worth $59,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Close Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $133,209,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its position in shares of KLA by 6.2% during the third quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $112,721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,109 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 101,382 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $109,351,000 after purchasing an additional 5,586 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in KLA by 69.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 87,547 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $94,422,000 after purchasing an additional 35,770 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in KLA by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 69,563 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $74,898,000 after purchasing an additional 8,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on KLAC. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $1,450.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,650.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,624.07.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,935.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $253.63 billion, a PE ratio of 56.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.44. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $1,558.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,371.82. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $674.20 and a 1-year high of $1,939.36.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The firm had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.20 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 36.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

About KLA

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA's offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.

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