KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $815.55.

KLAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer upgraded KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in KLA by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $426,660,000 after buying an additional 2,019 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 538.5% during the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 7,445 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,765,000 after acquiring an additional 6,279 shares during the period. Eastern Bank lifted its position in shares of KLA by 655.8% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 27,368 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $21,194,000 after acquiring an additional 23,747 shares during the period. ING Groep NV lifted its position in shares of KLA by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 79,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,769,000 after acquiring an additional 27,436 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,722,000 after acquiring an additional 4,112 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $665.72 on Wednesday. KLA has a twelve month low of $527.11 and a twelve month high of $896.32. The firm has a market cap of $89.05 billion, a PE ratio of 30.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.13. The business has a fifty day moving average of $695.34 and a 200-day moving average of $756.63.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that KLA will post 30.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

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.