StockNews.com Upgrades KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday.

KLAC has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an outperform rating and a $800.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a neutral rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $722.26.

KLA Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $713.93 on Monday. 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 1-year low of $369.66 and a 1-year high of $729.15. The company has a 50 day moving average of $686.46 and a 200-day moving average of $603.00. The company has a market cap of $96.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.40, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% 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.