Needham & Company LLC Issues Positive Forecast for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Price

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price raised by Needham & Company LLC from $200.00 to $270.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on KLA from $187.50 to $197.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.80.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded up $2.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $231.52. 7,443,233 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,777,242. KLA has a 52 week low of $83.22 and a 52 week high of $307.37. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $216.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $302.43 billion, a PE ratio of 65.53, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

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

KLA Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. KLA’s payout ratio is 26.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,037.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 53,367 shares in the company, valued at $15,225,605.10. The trade was a 21.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total transaction of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 132,333 shares of company stock valued at $29,547,170. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 4,023.1% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 86.6% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886 shares during the period. BOKF NA grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,218 shares during the period. CSM Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 868.2% during the third quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 2,924 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.2% during the third quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $112,721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Key KLA News

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus raised KLA’s price target from $191 to $270 and reiterated a Buy rating, citing a prolonged semiconductor equipment demand cycle and stronger structural growth prospects. AMAT, KLAC, LRCX Stocks: 5-Star Analyst Sharply Raises Price Targets – Here’s Why
• Positive Sentiment: Needham also lifted its price target on KLA from $200 to $270 and kept a Buy rating, reinforcing the view that the company still has upside from current levels. Benzinga report on Needham target increase
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintained a Buy rating and reaffirmed a $274 target, saying KLA continues to benefit from structural growth drivers in semiconductor manufacturing. KLA Maintained at Buy as Analyst Sees Structural Growth Drivers; Price Target Reaffirmed at $274
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional analyst coverage from other outlets echoed the same theme: KLA is seen as a beneficiary of a durable AI- and semiconductor-driven capex cycle, which can support sentiment but does not change fundamentals overnight. Applied Materials, Lam, KLA take advantage of prolonged demand cycle: Stifel
• Negative Sentiment: One recent commentary suggested KLA may be getting close to fully valued after its AI-driven guidance lift, which could temper enthusiasm if investors worry the stock has already priced in much of the good news. KLA (KLAC) Following Its AI Driven Guidance Lift Looks Close To Fully Valued

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.