KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) released its earnings results on Thursday. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32, Briefing.com reports. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA updated its Q4 guidance to $5.47-6.67 EPS and its Q4 2024 guidance to 5.470-6.670 EPS.

KLA Trading Up 5.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $34.86 during trading on Friday, hitting $707.81. 558,910 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 954,259. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $684.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $598.13. KLA has a 1-year low of $369.00 and a 1-year high of $729.15. The firm has a market cap of $95.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.94, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 29.46%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $750.00 price objective (up previously from $625.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $720.42.

About KLA

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.