KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $760.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target raised by TD Cowen from $700.00 to $760.00 in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

KLAC has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on KLA in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a buy rating and a $820.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on KLA in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an outperform rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $806.24.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $787.39 on Thursday. KLA has a twelve month low of $440.15 and a twelve month high of $896.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $809.47 and its 200 day moving average is $716.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The company has a market cap of $106.01 billion, a PE ratio of 41.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA will post 29.09 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other KLA news, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total value of $5,953,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,399,800. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,748,351.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,905 shares of company stock worth $16,831,966. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth $1,048,728,000. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter worth about $627,399,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter worth about $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of KLA by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of KLA by 43.4% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 997,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $580,008,000 after purchasing an additional 301,848 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Company 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.