Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Hold Rating for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports.

KLAC has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on KLA in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $699.21.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $672.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. KLA has a 12-month low of $355.88 and a 12-month high of $729.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $684.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $598.13. The firm has a market cap of $91.00 billion, a PE ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.49 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in KLA by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,059,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Chico Wealth RIA boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 287.0% during the fourth quarter. Chico Wealth RIA now owns 3,870 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,870 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position in KLA by 48.7% in the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 43,484 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,277,000 after acquiring an additional 14,251 shares during the period. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd lifted its holdings in KLA by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd now owns 15,620 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,080,000 after purchasing an additional 2,620 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.