KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $1,595.3929.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on KLAC shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on KLA from $1,100.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $820.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,800.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,442.62 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $189.10 billion, a PE ratio of 41.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.47. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $1,693.35. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,347.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,140.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 98.18% and a net margin of 35.76%.KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.20 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total transaction of $12,997,089.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter worth about $292,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments boosted its position in KLA by 631.6% in the second quarter. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments now owns 15,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,603,000 after buying an additional 13,200 shares in the last quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in KLA during the second quarter worth about $237,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth approximately $337,000. Finally, Oak Associates Ltd. OH raised its stake in shares of KLA by 1.7% in the second quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH now owns 90,116 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $80,721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.