Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) had its price target raised by Morgan Stanley from $868.00 to $916.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the semiconductor company's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $830.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $790.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on KLA from $950.00 to $900.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on KLA from $910.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $818.06.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded down $6.40 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $914.70. 489,375 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,132,863. KLA has a one year low of $551.33 and a one year high of $928.02. The company's 50 day moving average is $799.45 and its 200 day moving average is $731.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.42.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a return on equity of 112.97% and a net margin of 31.99%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. The firm's revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

KLA announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total value of $781,022.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 27,779 shares in the company, valued at $21,291,492.34. This represents a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total transaction of $7,381,006.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,740 shares in the company, valued at $53,803,042. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,860 shares of company stock worth $8,196,798. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in KLA by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,564,622 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $9,221,230,000 after acquiring an additional 80,154 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of KLA by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,273,118,000 after purchasing an additional 14,397 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,046,472,000 after purchasing an additional 31,608 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $1,175,756,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

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.