KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $1,460.00 at New Street Research

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective increased by New Street Research from $1,230.00 to $1,460.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of KLA from $1,800.00 to $1,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,500.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, January 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,800.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, March 16th. Dbs Bank upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on KLA from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,607.64.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC traded up $52.17 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $1,524.58. 130,404 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,119,583. The company has a market capitalization of $199.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.40, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,474.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,292.47. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $1,693.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The company had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Westpac Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 11.2% in the third quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 9,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,005,000 after buying an additional 932 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in KLA by 4,023.1% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $133,209,000. BOKF NA raised its stake in shares of KLA by 16.6% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 8,534 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp lifted its position in shares of KLA by 1,567.8% during the third quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 4,770 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,145,000 after purchasing an additional 4,484 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target to $2,000 and kept an “Overweight” rating — a substantial upside signal from a major shop that supports further upside in the stock. MarketScreener
• Positive Sentiment: KLA announced an additional $7 billion share buyback and a 21% dividend increase — a large capital-return program that reduces float, boosts EPS accretion and tends to support the share price. Yahoo Finance
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and market commentary highlights KLA’s strong earnings surprise history and the view that KLA could beat estimates again — reinforcing expectations for continued profit beat-and-raise dynamics. Zacks
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat and other outlets are flagging KLA on “buyback watch” lists — incremental positive press that can attract momentum and buy-side interest following the repurchase announcement. MarketBeat
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market rally (S&P, Nasdaq gains on geopolitical easing) is a tailwind supporting chip stocks like KLA, but this is macro-driven and not company-specific. Barchart
• Neutral Sentiment: QuiverQuant notes heavy intraday volume, institutional portfolio shifts (mixed adds and trims) and some insider selling — high interest but mixed signals on positioning. QuiverQuant
• Negative Sentiment: New Street raised its target to $1,460 but retained a “Neutral” rating — the target implies downside versus the current price, which could temper upside for investors who follow that shop. MarketScreener

KLA Company Profile

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.