UBS Group Lowers KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target to $765.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective cut by stock analysts at UBS Group from $900.00 to $765.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. UBS Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 1.80% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on KLAC. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $950.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $805.52.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $751.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $101.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.37, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $785.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $752.79. 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 has a twelve month low of $440.15 and a twelve month high of $896.32.

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

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock worth $14,568,247 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 77.3% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth $44,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.