Citigroup Raises KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target to $725.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at Citigroup from $700.00 to $725.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 11.15% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $696.58.

KLA Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of KLAC traded up $18.65 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $652.29. The company had a trading volume of 236,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 952,256. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $88.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $683.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $595.92. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $355.88 and a fifty-two week high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in shares of KLA by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,059,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Chico Wealth RIA increased its position in shares of KLA by 287.0% during the 4th quarter. Chico Wealth RIA now owns 3,870 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,870 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 48.7% during the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 43,484 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,277,000 after acquiring an additional 14,251 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd grew its holdings in KLA by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd now owns 15,620 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,080,000 after acquiring an additional 2,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.