KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) updated its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $5.47-6.67 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $5.73. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.375-2.625 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.43 billion. KLA also updated its Q4 2024 guidance to 5.470-6.670 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays upped their target price on KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on KLA in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a buy rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $720.42.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded up $33.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $706.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,193,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 821,545. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $685.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $599.79. KLA has a twelve month low of $369.00 and a twelve month high of $729.15. The firm has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a PE ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. Research analysts predict that KLA will post 22.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the 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 directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.