KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

KLAC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on KLA from $1,850.00 to $1,700.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,800.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Monday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,595.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $1,800.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $1,300.00 to $1,800.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,602.29.

KLA Stock Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,482.36 on Monday. KLA has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $1,693.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,470.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,252.96. The stock has a market cap of $194.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.13, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a return on equity of 98.18% and a net margin of 35.76%.The company had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $8.20 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its position in KLA by 125.0% during the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company Profile

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.