KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Raymond James

Raymond James reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $750.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $625.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup lifted their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve 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 a consensus target price of $720.42.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $706.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $685.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $599.79. KLA has a one year low of $369.00 and a one year high of $729.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34.

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 analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a 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 that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its position in shares of KLA by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,059,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Chico Wealth RIA increased its position in shares of KLA by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Chico Wealth RIA now owns 3,870 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,870 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 48.7% during the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 43,484 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,277,000 after acquiring an additional 14,251 shares during the period. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd increased its position in shares of KLA by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd now owns 15,620 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,080,000 after acquiring an additional 2,620 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.