KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives $802.90 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $802.90.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on KLAC. Citigroup cut their price objective on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Oppenheimer raised KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock opened at $644.55 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $726.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $764.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. KLA has a 1-year low of $527.11 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.22 billion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.29.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.74 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that KLA will post 30.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 77.3% during the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in KLA in the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company Profile

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.