Stock Traders Buy High Volume of KLA Call Options (NASDAQ:KLAC)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 7,243 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 58% compared to the typical volume of 4,574 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on KLA from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citic Securities lifted their price objective on KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped 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, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on KLA from $170.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.34.

KLA Trading Down 11.8%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $266.19 on Thursday. KLA has a 1-year low of $83.22 and a 1-year high of $307.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 3.03 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The business’s 50 day moving average is $209.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $168.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $347.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.34, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 1.40.

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

KLA declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 26.06%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 713,830 shares in the company, valued at $157,996,990.71. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 4,023.1% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 86.6% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,937,000 after buying an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 14.8% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 69,563 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $74,898,000 after buying an additional 8,973 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,218 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.0% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 54,252 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,516,000 after buying an additional 1,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor chatter remains focused on stronger AI-driven semiconductor spending, with KLA viewed as a key beneficiary of rising wafer-fab capacity, new fab projects, and improved equipment-cycle expectations. KLA Corporation Stock (KLAC) Opinions on AI-Driven Semiconductor Cycle
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s recent upbeat outlook on wafer fab equipment demand and its large $7 billion buyback authorization continue to support bullish sentiment. Why KLA shares rose today
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive, with multiple firms reiterating buy-equivalent ratings and several raising price targets on expectations for continued AI infrastructure spending and semiconductor capital investment.
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusual call-option activity suggests traders are positioning for more upside, but options flow alone is not a clear fundamental catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: KLAC has been dragged lower as semiconductor peers fell broadly, and the Nasdaq-100 also softened on weakness in chip names such as Micron, AMD, Applied Materials, and Lam Research. QQQ is down 0.9% today, on KLAC stock price movement
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling by CEO Richard Wallace may add a small headwind to sentiment, though it does not change the longer-term demand story.

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.