KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $720.42.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,036,035 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,577,847,000 after acquiring an additional 133,821 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in KLA by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,061,469,000 after buying an additional 386,810 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter worth $1,048,728,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in KLA by 3.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $733,249,000 after buying an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in KLA by 12.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,365,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $626,431,000 after buying an additional 153,752 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $706.26 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $685.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $600.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34. KLA has a one year low of $369.00 and a one year high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 103.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.49 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that KLA will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.38%.

About KLA

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.