KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 103.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.49 earnings per share. KLA updated its Q4 guidance to $5.47-6.67 EPS and its Q4 2024 guidance to 5.470-6.670 EPS.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $706.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $685.41 and a 200-day moving average of $600.67. KLA has a one year low of $369.00 and a one year high of $729.15. The company has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a PE ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Friday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $720.42.

KLA Company Profile

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.