KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Rothschild & Co Redburn Analyst Says

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price raised by analysts at Rothschild & Co Redburn from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 in a report issued on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 2.95% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $1,300.00 to $1,800.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,598.96.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock opened at $1,442.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1,347.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,142.02. The company has a market capitalization of $189.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.47. KLA has a 12-month low of $551.33 and a 12-month high of $1,693.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a return on equity of 98.18% and a net margin of 35.76%.The company had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total value of $12,997,089.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 91.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter worth about $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth about $95,217,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $119,618,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 5,697.9% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 97,231 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,094,000 after acquiring an additional 95,554 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 69.1% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 87,547 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $94,422,000 after acquiring an additional 35,770 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Company Profile

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.