KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $1,700.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price boosted by Evercore ISI from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,MarketScreener reports. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on KLA from $1,260.00 to $1,635.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of KLA from $1,260.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on KLA from $1,100.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,120.00 to $1,280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,350.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,477.64.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,627.20 on Monday. KLA has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $1,650.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.69, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,307.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,117.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.47 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 107.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 23.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total transaction of $12,997,089.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 1.1% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 188,735 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $169,056,000 after buying an additional 2,117 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in KLA in the third quarter valued at $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter worth about $95,217,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. grew its stake in KLA by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $112,721,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109 shares during the period. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its stake in shares of KLA by 5.8% during the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 101,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $109,351,000 after purchasing an additional 5,586 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.