Citigroup Cuts KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target to $900.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target lowered by Citigroup from $960.00 to $900.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com cut KLA from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Raymond James raised their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $812.80.

KLA Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $731.04 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. KLA has a 52-week low of $440.15 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $776.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $754.25. The company has a market capitalization of $98.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that KLA will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total transaction of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,644,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Market Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC now owns 808 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $666,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in KLA by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 548 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its position in KLA by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 3,249 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,679,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. United Community Bank boosted its position in KLA by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. United Community Bank now owns 390 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in KLA by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 567 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. 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.