Analysts Set KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) PT at $1,602.29

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-one ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $1,602.2857.

Several brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. Argus upped their price objective on KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,900.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,800.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Evercore lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cozad Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in KLA in the second quarter valued at $237,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at approximately $337,000. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 2,766.7% during the second quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 86 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 20.3% during the second quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,249 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,119,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 1.1% during the second quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 17,325 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $15,519,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Down 6.0%

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $1,451.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $190.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.00. KLA has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $1,693.35. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,480.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,277.19.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.75 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $8.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 22.11%.

KLA declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to purchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About KLA

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.