KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given New $916.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $868.00 to $916.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on KLAC. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $830.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities raised their price target on KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on KLA from $950.00 to $900.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $818.06.

KLA Trading Up 0.3%

KLAC stock opened at $898.85 on Tuesday. KLA has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year high of $914.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $789.66 and its 200-day moving average is $728.08. The firm has a market cap of $118.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.42.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly 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 112.97% and a net margin of 31.99%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.26 EPS. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total transaction of $7,381,006.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 78,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,803,042. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,291,492.34. This trade represents a 3.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,175,756,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 95,141.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,674,347 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,138,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672,589 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in KLA by 381.3% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 733,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $462,085,000 after purchasing an additional 580,967 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the first quarter valued at approximately $348,822,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in KLA by 27.9% in the first 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 period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.