KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why
by Renee Jackson · The Cerbat GemKLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $1,798.00 and last traded at $1,795.91, with a volume of 867092 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,768.78.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,500.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,751.00 to $1,809.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,614.79.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on KLA
KLA Price Performance
The firm has a market capitalization of $227.40 billion, a PE ratio of 50.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.83. The business’s 50 day moving average is $1,513.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,340.02.
KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The business had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $8.20 EPS. KLA’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
KLA Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is 22.11%.
KLA declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 125.0% during the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About KLA
KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.
Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.