KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Short Interest Update

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,950,000 shares, a decrease of 14.9% from the December 15th total of 4,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 2.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on KLAC shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $289.00 to $318.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 28th. Susquehanna Bancshares boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $350.00 to $355.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 27th. Berenberg Bank lowered their price objective on shares of KLA from $430.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 14th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $410.00 to $468.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of KLA from $265.00 to $260.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 3,127 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $400.00, for a total value of $1,250,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 29,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,911,600. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its stake in KLA by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 105 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Veriti Management LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Veriti Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $868,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 0.8% during the second quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 3,488 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Wade G W & Inc. lifted its stake in KLA by 1.6% during the second quarter. Wade G W & Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $558,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avitas Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,154,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 87.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KLA Trading Up 2.9 %

KLA stock opened at $413.85 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $389.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $354.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 2.43 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 1.36. KLA has a 12-month low of $250.20 and a 12-month high of $428.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 26th. The semiconductor company reported $7.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.22 by $0.84. The business had revenue of $2.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.59 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.28% and a return on equity of 120.41%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA will post 24.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 15th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.49%.

KLA Company Profile

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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 four segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; PCB, Display and Component Inspection; and Other.