KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $266.49 and last traded at $261.9680, with a volume of 231221 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $254.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $150.50 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $218.00 target price (up from $177.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $342.44.

KLA Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $332.91 billion, a PE ratio of 72.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $155.72.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $8.48. The business had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 91.89% and a net margin of 35.66%.The company’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

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

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the business’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 value of $9,986,725.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 713,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,996,990.71. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 6.8% during the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Motco grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the period. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.