KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives $832.17 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $818.28.

Several research firms recently commented on KLAC. Morgan Stanley upgraded KLA from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $748.00 to $870.00 in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of KLA from $850.00 to $700.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $725.00 target price (down previously from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,867,606.76. This represents a 19.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in KLA by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,496,833,000 after acquiring an additional 85,370 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,273,118,000 after purchasing an additional 14,397 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,046,472,000 after purchasing an additional 31,608 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,175,756,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in KLA by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,685,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,061,878,000 after buying an additional 204,330 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock opened at $670.22 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. KLA has a one year low of $551.33 and a one year high of $896.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $705.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $694.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.06 billion, a PE ratio of 28.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.60%.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.