Oppenheimer Initiates Coverage on KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating and a $750.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on KLAC. UBS Group cut their price target on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. 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 report on Friday, June 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $809.81.

KLA Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $782.40 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. KLA has a 12-month low of $443.71 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $769.66 and its 200 day moving average is $757.17.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total transaction of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at $74,257,998.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in KLA during the first quarter valued at $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of KLA by 12.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 25.7% in the 1st 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 last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of KLA by 2,205.8% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 201,592 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $166,215,000 after buying an additional 192,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 136.2% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 309,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $214,667,000 after acquiring an additional 178,474 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.