UBS Group Cuts KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target to $200.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price trimmed by UBS Group from $215.00 to $200.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $253.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $200.00 price target on KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.22.

KLA Trading Up 0.4%

KLAC opened at $172.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $225.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.45. KLA has a 52 week low of $83.90 and a 52 week high of $307.37. The business’s 50 day moving average is $206.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. This trade represents a 43.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total transaction of $7,359,878.69. Following the sale, the chief financial officer 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470 in the last quarter. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its position 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 raised its stake in shares of KLA by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of KLA by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 796 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $967,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.