KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $700.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price hoisted by TD Cowen from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a hold rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on KLAC. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on KLA in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an outperform rating and a $800.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $722.26.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC opened at $713.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $96.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $686.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $603.00. KLA has a 1 year low of $369.66 and a 1 year high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that KLA will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.81%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value 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 $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in KLA by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $843,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in KLA by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,059,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management increased its stake in KLA by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 26,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $15,478,000 after buying an additional 1,692 shares in the last quarter. Chico Wealth RIA increased its stake in KLA by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Chico Wealth RIA now owns 3,870 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,250,000 after buying an additional 2,870 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in KLA by 48.7% in the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 43,484 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,277,000 after buying an additional 14,251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.