KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45, Briefing.com reports. KLA had a return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA updated its Q1 guidance to $6.40-7.60 EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance to 6.400-7.600 EPS.

KLA Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded up $7.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $762.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,822,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 906,318. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.14. The stock has a market cap of $102.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.27. KLA has a 12 month low of $440.15 and a 12 month high of $896.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $808.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $714.17.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total value of $5,953,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,105 shares in the company, valued at $24,399,800. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,905 shares of company stock valued at $16,831,966 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KLAC. TD Cowen increased their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $950.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $802.80.

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.