KLA’s (KLAC) Hold Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on KLAC. TD Cowen upped their price target on KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays upped their price target on KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group upped their price target on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on KLA in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $720.42.

KLA Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $706.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $685.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $600.67. KLA has a 12-month low of $369.00 and a 12-month high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a return on equity of 103.31% and a net margin of 27.19%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that KLA will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth $26,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.