KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $499.83.

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on KLA from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on KLA from $445.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of KLA from $529.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 26th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $410.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $459.54 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $474.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $456.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.97. The company has a market cap of $62.64 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.36. KLA has a 1 year low of $307.30 and a 1 year high of $520.19.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 119.24% and a net margin of 30.51%. On average, analysts predict that KLA will post 22.99 EPS for the current year.

KLA declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, September 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 14th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jeneanne Michelle Hanley sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.97, for a total value of $254,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,554,394.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 2,621 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.55, for a total transaction of $1,243,795.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,755,360.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jeneanne Michelle Hanley sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.97, for a total value of $254,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,554,394.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,075 shares of company stock valued at $23,465,095. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Shelton Capital Management raised its stake in KLA by 7.9% in the first quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 12,058 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,813,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 93.3% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 1,858 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $901,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in KLA by 5.1% during the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 42,004 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $16,767,000 after acquiring an additional 2,043 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the second quarter worth about $347,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 11.4% during the first quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,294 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.49% of the company’s stock.

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.