Stifel Nicolaus Reaffirms Buy Rating for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Stifel Nicolaus restated their buy rating on shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a $685.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on KLAC. Barclays upped their price target on KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on KLA from $750.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. TD Cowen increased their target price on KLA from $525.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered KLA from a positive rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the stock from $640.00 to $675.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $641.05.

KLA Trading Up 1.2 %

KLAC opened at $696.87 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $657.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $566.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.39, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.34. KLA has a 12 month low of $355.88 and a 12 month high of $729.15. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The firm’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $7.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that KLA will post 22.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Journey Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 518 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in KLA by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 75 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its stake in KLA by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in KLA by 4.7% during the third quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 466 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in KLA by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% 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.