KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given New $868.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $870.00 to $868.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

KLAC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of KLA from $910.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of KLA from $690.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $802.74.

KLA Stock Down 3.8 %

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $676.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.44, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $679.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $683.46. KLA has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at $20,867,606.76. This represents a 19.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 312.0% during the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 46,037 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $31,296,000 after acquiring an additional 34,864 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp raised its stake in KLA by 5.2% during the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 812 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 780 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,256 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after buying an additional 339 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 1,161.3% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 13,105 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,909,000 after buying an additional 12,066 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.