KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

KLAC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on KLA from $690.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $830.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on KLA from $950.00 to $900.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $815.39.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $889.87 on Friday. KLA has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year high of $914.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.68 billion, a PE ratio of 32.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $778.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $724.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a return on equity of 112.97% and a net margin of 31.99%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $1.90 dividend. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 27.63%.

KLA declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total value of $7,381,006.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 78,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,803,042. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total value of $781,022.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,291,492.34. This represents a 3.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $1,175,756,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 95,141.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,674,347 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,138,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672,589 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 381.3% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 733,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $462,085,000 after acquiring an additional 580,967 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the first quarter valued at $348,822,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 27.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,259,543,000 after acquiring an additional 404,634 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.