KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target increased by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $1,751.00 to $1,809.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 16.12% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,070.00 to $1,485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $820.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on KLA from $1,500.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group set a $1,575.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,601.04.

KLA Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded up $51.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $1,557.94. The company had a trading volume of 221,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,170,572. 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 stock has a market cap of $204.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.47. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1,408.76 and its 200-day moving average is $1,191.57. KLA has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $1,693.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Close Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter worth $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth about $95,217,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of KLA by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $112,721,000 after buying an additional 6,109 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 5,586 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 5,697.9% in the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 97,231 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,094,000 after buying an additional 95,554 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About KLA

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.