KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $950.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $800.00 to $950.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on KLA from $760.00 to $980.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on KLA in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a buy rating and a $800.00 price target on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $802.80.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $762.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.70 billion, a PE ratio of 39.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.27. KLA has a 52-week low of $440.15 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $808.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $714.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 106.27% and a net margin of 28.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that KLA will post 28.18 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total value of $5,953,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 32,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,399,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,905 shares of company stock worth $16,831,966 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in KLA by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,112,261 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,159,832,000 after purchasing an additional 76,226 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in KLA by 12.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 386,810 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position 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 valued at $1,829,352,000 after buying an additional 71,289 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,048,728,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in KLA by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,017 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $720,936,000 after buying an additional 211,227 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.