KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.32 EPS

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.49 earnings per share. KLA updated its Q4 guidance to $5.47-6.67 EPS and its Q4 2024 guidance to 5.470-6.670 EPS.

KLA Stock Up 4.9 %

KLAC traded up $32.85 during trading on Friday, reaching $705.80. The company had a trading volume of 540,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 953,922. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $684.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $598.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25. KLA has a 12 month low of $369.00 and a 12 month high of $729.15. The company has a market cap of $95.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.94, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. KLA’s payout ratio is 29.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on KLA in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Berenberg Bank increased their target price on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $720.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About KLA

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.