KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given “Hold” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports.

KLAC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen increased their target price on KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup increased their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $722.26.

KLA Trading Up 1.1 %

KLA stock opened at $713.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $96.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.40, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $369.66 and a fifty-two week high of $729.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $686.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $603.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.14.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that KLA will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $1,048,728,000. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in KLA in the first quarter worth about $627,399,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 52.8% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $530,630,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 386,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 301,848 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.