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

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

Several other research firms have also commented on KLAC. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $720.42.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC opened at $706.26 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $685.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $600.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91. KLA has a 1 year low of $369.00 and a 1 year high of $729.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.51 billion, a PE ratio of 37.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its 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. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 103.31%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

About KLA

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.