KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Earns “Neutral” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated their neutral rating on shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $800.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for KLA’s FY2025 earnings at $32.47 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also commented on KLAC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $725.00 price target (down previously from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $690.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of KLA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $748.00 to $870.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $802.74.

KLA Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $676.31 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. KLA has a twelve month low of $551.33 and a twelve month high of $896.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $679.94 and a 200 day moving average of $683.46. The stock has a market cap of $89.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.26 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

KLA declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,867,606.76. The trade was a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,496,833,000 after buying an additional 85,370 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in KLA by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,273,118,000 after acquiring an additional 14,397 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in KLA by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,046,472,000 after acquiring an additional 31,608 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $1,175,756,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,685,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,061,878,000 after purchasing an additional 204,330 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.