KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.70

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of 1.70 per share by the semiconductor company on Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45.

KLA has increased its dividend by an average of 15.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. KLA has a dividend payout ratio of 18.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect KLA to earn $32.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.0%.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock traded up $16.49 during trading on Thursday, reaching $686.15. 1,030,000 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 950,325. The company has a market capitalization of $91.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.33, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $735.90 and its 200 day moving average is $763.89. KLA has a 1 year low of $504.66 and a 1 year high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that KLA will post 30.91 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $802.90.

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.