Morgan Stanley Raises KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target to $1,809.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective raised by Morgan Stanley from $1,751.00 to $1,809.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 18.68% from the company’s current price.

KLAC has been the subject of several other reports. Zacks Research raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Argus lifted their price target on KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $1,500.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,450.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on KLA from $1,750.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,601.04.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,524.31 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. KLA has a twelve month low of $551.33 and a twelve month high of $1,693.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $1,422.29 and its 200-day moving average is $1,196.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.35, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.47.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Dorsey Wright & Associates purchased a new stake in KLA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $292,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 631.6% in the second quarter. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments now owns 15,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,603,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 11.2% in the third quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 9,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,005,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the period. Oak Associates Ltd. OH raised its position in shares of KLA by 1.7% in the second quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH now owns 90,116 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $80,721,000 after buying an additional 1,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in KLA during the second quarter valued at $237,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About KLA

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.