KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $1,285.00 and last traded at $1,277.6930, with a volume of 22429 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $1,276.99.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,260.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,154.00 to $1,214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on KLA from $1,115.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,135.00 to $1,260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on KLA from $1,000.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,275.54.

KLA Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $167.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,191.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1,027.72.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.47 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 107.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.33 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 7.920-9.480 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 23.86%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total transaction of $12,997,089.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its stake in KLA by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,087 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,251,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in KLA by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in KLA by 1.2% in the third quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 836 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $902,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.9% in the third quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 267 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 28.6% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

About KLA

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.