KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives $1,275.54 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-six research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,305.3462.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on KLA from $1,120.00 to $1,280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. New Street Research boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $980.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on KLA from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Wolfe Research set a $1,500.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of KLA from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA 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 value of $2,788,220.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total value of $12,997,089.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares in the company, valued at $97,704,954.10. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 91.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 46.0% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,608 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 334.8% during the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in KLA by 31.1% in the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 447 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in KLA in the first quarter worth about $738,000. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in KLA by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $807,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,428.17 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1,223.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,067.04. The company has a market cap of $187.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 1.88. KLA has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $1,432.25.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.86%.

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.