KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $280.3357.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Dbs Bank raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on KLA from $150.50 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $325.00 target price on KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th.

KLA Trading Down 8.2%

Shares of KLAC traded down $19.23 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $214.09. The stock had a trading volume of 4,528,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,485,282. KLA has a 12-month low of $83.22 and a 12-month high of $307.37. The firm has a market cap of $279.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.03. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $213.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.82.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $8.48. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that KLA will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Cuts Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about KLA

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its price target on KLA to $274 from $190 and kept an overweight rating, while Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its target to $325 and reiterated overweight, reflecting confidence in KLA’s role in the AI-driven semiconductor equipment cycle.
• Positive Sentiment: Susquehanna also boosted its long-term wafer fabrication equipment outlook to $250 billion by 2028 and raised targets across the semiconductor equipment group, including KLA, which supports the bullish case for the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings were strong, with KLA reporting EPS and revenue above estimates and posting year-over-year revenue growth, reinforcing the company’s fundamental strength in semiconductor process control.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary has highlighted KLA as a possible “best stock on the rise,” which may be adding to investor interest, but this is not a direct company-specific catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: CFO Bren Higgins sold 27,701 shares at an average price of $265.69, reducing his stake by 9.51%. While insider sales do not always signal operational weakness, they can pressure sentiment when the stock is already near recent highs. Article Title

Insider Activity

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total value of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total value of $4,106,037.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 53,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,225,605.10. This represents a 21.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders sold 132,333 shares of company stock worth $29,547,170. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 4,023.1% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,303,000 after buying an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 86.6% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,937,000 after buying an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in KLA by 14.8% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 69,563 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $74,898,000 after acquiring an additional 8,973 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA boosted its stake in KLA by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 8,534 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CSM Advisors LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 868.2% during the 3rd quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 2,924 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,154,000 after acquiring an additional 2,622 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.