KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $832.17.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KLAC. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised KLA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $748.00 to $870.00 in a research report on Monday, March 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total transaction of $5,078,136.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,867,606.76. This represents a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. United Bank bought a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter worth about $339,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 51.3% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 4,593 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,557,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558 shares in the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the third quarter worth approximately $302,000. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at approximately $554,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $604.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. KLA has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $896.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $714.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $698.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. Equities analysts forecast that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. KLA’s payout ratio is 28.60%.

KLA Company Profile

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.