KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James increased their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $747.40.

KLA Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $827.79 on Monday. KLA has a 12 month low of $440.15 and a 12 month high of $876.55. The stock has a market cap of $111.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $759.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $681.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that KLA will post 23.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $788.58, for a total value of $803,563.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,356 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,726,714.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $788.58, for a total value of $803,563.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,726,714.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,861 shares of company stock worth $16,795,913 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $1,048,728,000. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in KLA during the 1st quarter valued at $627,399,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in KLA during the 1st quarter valued at $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in KLA by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in KLA by 43.4% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 997,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $580,008,000 after purchasing an additional 301,848 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.