Morgan Stanley Boosts KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target to $698.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective increased by Morgan Stanley from $692.00 to $698.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on KLAC. Bank of America lifted their target price on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on KLA in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an outperform rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $720.42.

KLA Trading Up 4.9 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $706.26 on Friday. KLA has a 52-week low of $369.00 and a 52-week high of $729.15. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $685.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $599.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were given a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. KLA’s payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Artemis Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the first quarter worth $3,842,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in KLA by 1.2% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 12,194 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,519,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the first quarter worth $941,000. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 2.5% in the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 5,938 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,148,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the first quarter worth $4,879,000. 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.