KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $868.00 to $916.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. KLA traded as high as $918.97 and last traded at $918.02, with a volume of 452440 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $898.85.

KLAC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $790.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $725.00 price target (down from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $818.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total value of $7,381,006.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,803,042. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total transaction of $781,022.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 27,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,291,492.34. The trade was a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,860 shares of company stock valued at $8,196,798 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter worth about $402,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,674,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter worth about $1,479,000. Keyvantage Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in KLA by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 138,990 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $93,624,000 after purchasing an additional 3,846 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50-day moving average is $799.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $731.20.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.08 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 112.97% and a net margin of 31.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. KLA’s payout ratio is 27.63%.

KLA announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.