KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating and a $750.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock.

KLAC has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $809.81.

KLA Stock Down 2.8 %

KLAC opened at $782.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $769.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $756.50. KLA has a 52 week low of $443.71 and a 52 week high of $896.32. The company has a market capitalization of $105.34 billion, a PE ratio of 40.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that KLA will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares in the company, valued at $6,063,876.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,063,876.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock worth $14,568,247. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in KLA in the first quarter valued at approximately $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted 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 worth $2,061,469,000 after buying an additional 386,810 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 25.7% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,017 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $720,936,000 after buying an additional 211,227 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 2,205.8% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 201,592 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $166,215,000 after buying an additional 192,849 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 136.2% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 309,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $214,667,000 after buying an additional 178,474 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.