KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Reaches New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $868.00 to $916.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. KLA traded as high as $918.97 and last traded at $918.02, with a volume of 452440 shares. The stock had previously closed at $898.85.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $725.00 price target (down previously from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $790.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on KLA from $690.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $818.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total value of $34,768.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,616 shares in the company, valued at $2,332,164. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total transaction of $781,022.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,291,492.34. The trade was a 3.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,860 shares of company stock worth $8,196,798. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $1,175,756,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 95,141.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,674,347 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,138,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672,589 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 381.3% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 733,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $462,085,000 after buying an additional 580,967 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter worth about $348,822,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in KLA by 27.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,259,543,000 after buying an additional 404,634 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $120.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.42. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $799.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $731.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.54.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a return on equity of 112.97% and a net margin of 31.99%. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.26 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This is a positive change from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.63%.

KLA announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.