Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Price

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Bank of America from $1,450.00 to $1,650.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 15.53% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on KLA from $1,060.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $1,500.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,010.00 to $1,460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on KLA from $820.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,318.81.

KLA Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,428.17 on Tuesday. KLA has a one year low of $551.33 and a one year high of $1,432.25. The company has a market cap of $187.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.84, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.69. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $1,223.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1,067.04.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.47 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.26% and a net margin of 33.83%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.33 EPS. KLA has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 7.920-9.480 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total value of $12,997,089.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,704,954.10. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 125.0% in the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.