KLA’s (KLAC) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Raymond James reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has a $750.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $625.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $720.42.

KLA Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $706.26 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $685.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $601.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. KLA has a 12-month low of $369.00 and a 12-month high of $729.15. The firm has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.49 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm 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 of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Artemis Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in KLA during the 1st quarter worth $3,842,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in KLA by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 12,194 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,519,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE bought a new position in KLA during the 1st quarter worth $941,000. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in KLA by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 5,938 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,148,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in KLA during the 1st quarter worth $4,879,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About KLA

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.