KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nineteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $1,601.0357.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KLAC. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of KLA from $1,751.00 to $1,809.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on KLA from $1,500.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,500.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $1,750.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new stake in KLA during the second quarter worth $292,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments increased its stake in shares of KLA by 631.6% during the 2nd quarter. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments now owns 15,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,603,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp increased its stake in shares of KLA by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 9,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,005,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the last quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH now owns 90,116 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $80,721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,504 shares during the period. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $237,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $1,524.31 on Friday. KLA has a 12-month low of $551.33 and a 12-month high of $1,693.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,422.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,196.34. 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 has a market cap of $199.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.47.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

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.