KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Trading Up 7.6% – What’s Next?

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)’s share price rose 7.6% on Monday . The company traded as high as $262.79 and last traded at $267.4430. 3,302,169 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 11,167,087 shares. The stock had previously closed at $248.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on shares of KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Citic Securities boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen upped their price target on KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $325.00 target price on shares of KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.59.

KLA Stock Up 12.0%

The company has a market cap of $363.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $203.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.03.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $8.48. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The business’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 26.06%.

KLA announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total transaction of $9,986,725.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 713,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,996,990.71. This trade represents a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Monetary Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 3,773 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,380,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in KLA by 1.6% during the second quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth about $90,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in KLA by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,118 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,584,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the period. Finally, Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $218,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.