KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.32 EPS

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.31% and a net margin of 27.19%. The firm’s revenue 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 Up 4.9 %

NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $33.31 on Friday, hitting $706.26. 1,193,523 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 821,545. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $685.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $599.79. The company has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34. KLA has a 52 week low of $369.00 and a 52 week high of $729.15.

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 given a dividend of $1.45 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on KLA in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.