KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $1,400.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target raised by Rothschild & Co Redburn from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,MarketScreener reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn currently has a neutral rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on KLAC. Barclays lifted their price target on KLA from $1,595.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on KLA from $820.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on KLA from $1,070.00 to $1,485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore raised their target price on KLA from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,598.96.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,442.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The company’s fifty day moving average is $1,347.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,143.74. KLA has a 12-month low of $551.33 and a 12-month high of $1,693.35. The company has a market cap of $189.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.47.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.75 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.20 EPS. Equities analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 22.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares in the company, valued at $97,704,954.10. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 125.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in KLA during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in KLA in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in KLA by 28.6% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.