KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. KLA traded as high as $1,595.00 and last traded at $1,605.9310, with a volume of 163728 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,543.03.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on KLAC. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on KLA from $1,500.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,250.00 to $1,560.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $1,600.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,500.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $820.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,477.64.

Insider Transactions at KLA

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. West Michigan Advisors LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.4% during the third quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,087 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,251,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in KLA by 1.2% during the third quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 836 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 267 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Trading Up 0.7%

The company has a market capitalization of $213.80 billion, a PE ratio of 51.09, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,307.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,117.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.69, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.47 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 107.26%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were given a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 23.86%.

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.