KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nineteen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $223.70.

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Citic Securities boosted their target price on KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $2,698,291.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,322,505. This represents a 38.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its position in KLA by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its position in KLA by 36.4% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 60 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $183.77 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $214.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $187.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.11, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. KLA has a 52 week low of $83.22 and a 52 week high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Analysts anticipate that KLA will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.07%.

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.