KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Announces $1.70 Quarterly Dividend

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid a dividend of 1.70 per share by the semiconductor company on Tuesday, March 4th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%.

KLA has raised its dividend payment by an average of 15.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. KLA has a dividend payout ratio of 20.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect KLA to earn $32.09 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $6.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.2%.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $13.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $764.28. 711,323 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,160,361. 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 has a market cap of $101.57 billion, a PE ratio of 32.14, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.28. KLA has a 12 month low of $609.40 and a 12 month high of $896.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $692.63 and a 200 day moving average of $715.14.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. On average, research analysts anticipate that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on KLAC shares. Oppenheimer raised KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $831.68.

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.