KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Increased to $875.00 by Analysts at Argus

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target hoisted by Argus from $800.00 to $875.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $806.24.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $787.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $106.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $440.15 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The business has a fifty day moving average of $809.47 and a 200-day moving average of $715.73.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that KLA will post 28.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at $11,644,493.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at $11,644,493.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,905 shares of company stock worth $16,831,966. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,048,728,000. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new stake in KLA during the first quarter valued at approximately $627,399,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in KLA during the first quarter valued at approximately $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in KLA by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after buying an additional 386,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in KLA by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 997,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $580,008,000 after buying an additional 301,848 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.