KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $799.58.

KLAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $800.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on KLA from $910.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total value of $7,381,006.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,803,042. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at $20,867,606.76. This trade represents a 19.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,829 shares of company stock valued at $13,240,166 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keyvantage Wealth LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Milestone Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,563,000. Bensler LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 18,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $11,946,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in KLA by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 610,049 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $384,404,000 after buying an additional 59,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,655,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $789.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.40. KLA has a twelve month low of $551.33 and a twelve month high of $896.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $697.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $693.03.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $1.90 dividend. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. KLA’s payout ratio is 27.63%.

KLA announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Company Profile

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.