KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) updated its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $5.47-6.67 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $5.73. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.375-2.625 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.43 billion. KLA also updated its Q4 2024 guidance to 5.470-6.670 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KLAC. Susquehanna reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an outperform rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Finally, Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $720.42.

KLA Trading Up 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $33.31 on Friday, hitting $706.26. 1,193,523 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 821,545. KLA has a 12 month low of $369.00 and a 12 month high of $729.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $685.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $600.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.31% and a net margin of 27.19%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were given a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company Profile

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.