Brokerages Set KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target at $1,602.29

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-one ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $1,602.2857.

KLAC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on KLA from $1,595.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,800.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, March 16th. New Street Research lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,315.00 to $1,460.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research cut shares of KLA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,760.00 to $1,770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in KLA in the third quarter valued at about $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $95,217,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. increased its holdings in KLA by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $112,721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,109 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in shares of KLA by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 101,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $109,351,000 after purchasing an additional 5,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in shares of KLA by 5,697.9% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 97,231 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,094,000 after purchasing an additional 95,554 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 4.2%

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,382.58 on Tuesday. KLA has a twelve month low of $551.33 and a twelve month high of $1,693.35. The stock has a market cap of $181.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,474.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,288.89.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a return on equity of 98.18% and a net margin of 35.76%.The company had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $8.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

KLA declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to purchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Company Profile

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.