KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Announces Earnings Results

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. KLA updated its Q4 guidance to $5.47-6.67 EPS and its Q4 2024 guidance to 5.470-6.670 EPS.

KLA Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of KLAC traded up $32.85 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $705.80. The stock had a trading volume of 540,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 953,922. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $684.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $598.13. The company has a market cap of $95.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.94, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.34. KLA has a 1-year low of $369.00 and a 1-year high of $729.15.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were given a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KLAC. Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $720.42.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.