KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $800.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on KLAC. New Street Research began coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, December 18th. They issued a buy rating and a $730.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus restated a buy rating and issued a $685.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, March 25th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $525.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $688.42.

KLA Stock Up 2.2 %

KLAC opened at $693.31 on Tuesday. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $355.88 and a fifty-two week high of $729.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $683.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $590.78. The company has a market capitalization of $93.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $7.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that KLA will post 22.65 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,048,728,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $530,630,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of KLA by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of KLA by 22.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $759,532,000 after purchasing an additional 385,420 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of KLA by 43.4% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 997,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $580,008,000 after purchasing an additional 301,848 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.