KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $1,800.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target lifted by Wolfe Research from $1,500.00 to $1,800.00 in a report released on Monday,MarketScreener reports. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

KLAC has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of KLA from $1,260.00 to $1,635.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $1,600.00 target price on shares of KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Argus set a $1,400.00 price objective on KLA in a report on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of KLA from $1,070.00 to $1,485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,477.64.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,627.20 on Monday. KLA has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year high of $1,650.00. The firm has a market cap of $213.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1,307.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,117.76.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.47 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 107.26%. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $7.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is 23.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was 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 owned 81,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 125.0% during the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in KLA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Company Profile

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.