KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $1,460.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective increased by New Street Research from $1,230.00 to $1,460.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. New Street Research currently has a neutral rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

KLAC has been the subject of several other reports. Dbs Bank upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $1,800.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, March 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,751.00 to $1,809.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,900.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,607.64.

KLA Trading Down 0.2%

KLAC opened at $1,516.84 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $1,474.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,295.61. KLA has a one year low of $551.33 and a one year high of $1,693.35. The stock has a market cap of $198.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.44.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

KLA declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its stake in KLA by 125.0% in the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in KLA during the third quarter worth $40,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.