KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given New $950.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price boosted by Oppenheimer from $740.00 to $950.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on KLAC. Citigroup decreased their target price on KLA from $910.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $800.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $807.06.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $893.00 on Tuesday. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $914.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $744.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $712.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market cap of $118.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.46, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.40.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

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

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to purchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total transaction of $7,381,006.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 78,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,803,042. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total value of $781,022.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,779 shares in the company, valued at $21,291,492.34. This represents a 3.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,829 shares of company stock worth $13,240,166 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in KLA by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,564,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,221,230,000 after buying an additional 80,154 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,273,118,000 after acquiring an additional 14,397 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,046,472,000 after purchasing an additional 31,608 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,175,756,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in KLA by 27.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,259,543,000 after purchasing an additional 404,634 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.