KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given New $698.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective upped by Morgan Stanley from $692.00 to $698.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of KLA in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $720.42.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $706.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.51 billion, a PE ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $685.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $599.79. KLA has a 1 year low of $369.00 and a 1 year high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 103.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Greystone Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 1.4% during the first quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 1,173 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Journey Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 518 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in KLA by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 75 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in KLA by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 4.6% in the first quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 435 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.