Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $1,800.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 26.88% from the company’s previous close.

KLAC has been the topic of several other research reports. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,800.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,450.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th. Dbs Bank upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. New Street Research boosted their target price on KLA from $1,315.00 to $1,460.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $1,835.00 target price on KLA and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,602.29.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $1,418.64 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $185.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.45. KLA has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year high of $1,693.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,464.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,243.22.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $8.20 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

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

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.