KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Lowered to $800.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $870.00 to $800.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

KLAC has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Susquehanna dropped their target price on KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $812.30.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $648.34 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $687.30 and a 200 day moving average of $754.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The company has a market capitalization of $86.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.27. KLA has a 52 week low of $530.07 and a 52 week high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.74 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that KLA will post 30.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,630,424,000 after purchasing an additional 145,317 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in KLA by 32,828.8% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,647,708,000 after buying an additional 3,408,617 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,487,971,000 after buying an additional 93,743 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of KLA by 1.0% in the second 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 period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,083,684,000 after acquiring an additional 286,015 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Company Profile

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.