Nebula Research & Development LLC Increases Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Nebula Research & Development LLC boosted its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 76.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,924 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $1,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 85,370 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,273,118,000 after buying an additional 14,397 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,046,472,000 after acquiring an additional 31,608 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth $1,175,756,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in KLA by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,455,161 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $916,926,000 after acquiring an additional 292,907 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $725.00 price objective (down from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $800.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday. Eight 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 currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $805.47.

KLA Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded down $12.95 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $689.74. 667,638 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,059,202. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $551.33 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $681.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $684.52. The firm has a market cap of $91.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. KLA's quarterly revenue was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. KLA's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

KLA announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,867,606.76. This trade represents a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

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.