Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Price

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective raised by Morgan Stanley from $1,751.00 to $1,809.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on KLAC. Evercore increased their price target on shares of KLA from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $820.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,630.00 price target on KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $1,300.00 to $1,800.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,601.04.

KLA Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $1,546.68 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,416.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,194.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm has a market cap of $202.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.47. KLA has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $1,693.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a return on equity of 98.18% and a net margin of 35.76%.The business had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value 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. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its position in KLA by 125.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About KLA

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.