KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Hits New 1-Year High at $520.19

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 8th, 2023

Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $520.19 and last traded at $520.19, with a volume of 45878 shares. The stock had previously closed at $512.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on KLA from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Needham & Company LLC cut KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 14th. Susquehanna raised their price target on KLA from $490.00 to $560.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on KLA from $450.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on KLA in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $455.50.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on KLAC

KLA Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $67.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $485.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $433.50.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The semiconductor company reported $5.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 138.06% and a net margin of 32.27%. KLA’s revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.81 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 22.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 15th were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.59%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, September 5th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 66 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.30, for a total value of $31,369.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,231 shares in the company, valued at $11,041,694.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 66 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.30, for a total transaction of $31,369.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,041,694.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 2,621 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.55, for a total value of $1,243,795.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,755,360.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 43,486 shares of company stock valued at $21,817,465. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in KLA by 97,540.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 244,466,390 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $118,571,088,000 after purchasing an additional 244,216,016 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in KLA by 1,414.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,870,976 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $109,085,000 after purchasing an additional 3,615,391 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $572,224,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in KLA by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,950,724 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,177,840,000 after purchasing an additional 715,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jensen Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $205,999,000. 85.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About KLA

(Get Free Report)

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.