KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Trading Down 6.9% – Time to Sell?

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)’s stock price dropped 6.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $763.75 and last traded at $772.10. Approximately 328,088 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 913,343 shares. The stock had previously closed at $829.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on KLA in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $750.00 price objective on the stock. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $804.57.

KLA Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $95.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.08, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $774.25 and a 200-day moving average of $765.24. 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 (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.40 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. 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 0.82%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other KLA news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,298 shares in the company, valued at $6,063,876.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,873 shares of company stock worth $14,532,193 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,112,261 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,159,832,000 after purchasing an additional 76,226 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in KLA by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,811,766 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,318,329,000 after acquiring an additional 28,172 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in KLA by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,618,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,829,352,000 after acquiring an additional 71,289 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in KLA by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,163,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $959,695,000 after acquiring an additional 21,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in KLA by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,113,352 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $917,970,000 after acquiring an additional 81,335 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.