KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock 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 Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on KLAC. Citic Securities lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $150.50 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Argus boosted their target price on KLA from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on KLA from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $342.44.

KLA Stock Up 0.1%

The business has a 50 day moving average of $186.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.91 billion, a PE ratio of 72.38, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.50. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $8.48. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The business had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

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

KLA declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total value of $9,986,725.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 713,830 shares in the company, valued at $157,996,990.71. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in KLA in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its stake in KLA by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.