Wells Fargo & Company Trims KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Target Price to $870.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $950.00 to $870.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on KLA in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a market perform rating and a $750.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Argus increased their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $804.81.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $787.39 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $768.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $760.59. The company has a market capitalization of $106.01 billion, a PE ratio of 41.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.27. KLA has a twelve month low of $449.35 and a twelve month high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that KLA will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares in the company, valued at $6,063,876.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,873 shares of company stock worth $14,532,193 in the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in KLA by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 59,028 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $45,712,000 after buying an additional 1,551 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 294.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 138 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 42.5% in the third quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 781 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in KLA by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 27,383 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $21,206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust raised its position in KLA by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 11,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,291,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.