KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $1,434.50, but opened at $1,538.00. KLA shares last traded at $1,545.4430, with a volume of 221,130 shares traded.

Key Headlines Impacting KLA

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo upgraded KLA to Buy, citing a firmer outlook for the chip-equipment cycle which helped drive fresh buying interest in KLAC. Why KLAC, LRCX, and AMAT Stocks Hit All-Time Highs Today
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen upgraded KLAC to Buy, adding to the analyst momentum that’s lifting sentiment and pushing up implied upside. TD Cowen Upgrades KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) to Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target to $1,650, and Bernstein initiated coverage with an Outperform and a $1,700 target — multiple firms lifting targets signals broad analyst confidence. Bank of America Boosts KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target to $1,650.00 Bernstein initiates coverage of KLA (KLAC) with outperform recommendation
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst price-target momentum (multiple firms raising targets including RBC, Stifel, Cantor Fitzgerald, BofA) is reinforcing buying; QuiverQuant tracks new $1,700+ targets and broad analyst upgrades. New Analyst Forecast: $KLAC Given $1700 Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals remain supportive: KLA recently beat quarterly EPS/revenue estimates and provided solid guidance for the next quarter, underpinning the analyst bullishness. (Company results and guidance cited in recent releases.)
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor’s Business Daily noted KLA “triggers hold rule” after the surge — a technical/watch item that can restrict new IBD-style buy signals for a short period but doesn’t change fundamentals. Stock Market Today: Dow Rises On Jobless Claims; Advanced Micro Up 5%, KLA Triggers Hold Rule (Live Coverage)
• Neutral Sentiment: QuiverQuant notes elevated volume and search interest around KLAC today and shows mixed institutional moves (many funds adding while others trimmed), which supports higher liquidity but not a one-way trade. $KLAC stock is up 7% today. Here’s what we see in our data.
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling has been reported (multiple senior executives sold shares over the past six months), which some investors view as a cautionary signal on near-term stock allocations. $KLAC stock is up 7% today. Here’s what we see in our data.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on KLA from $1,260.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of KLA from $1,135.00 to $1,260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on KLA from $1,100.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $1,300.00 to $1,800.00 in a report on Tuesday. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,410.96.

KLA Stock Up 9.1%

The stock has a market cap of $205.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.69, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1,232.27 and its 200 day moving average is $1,073.47.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total value of $12,997,089.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares in the company, valued at $97,704,954.10. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the transaction, 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Close Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $95,217,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its position in KLA by 5,697.9% in the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 97,231 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,094,000 after buying an additional 95,554 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 69.1% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 87,547 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $94,422,000 after buying an additional 35,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 418.1% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,227 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $31,524,000 after acquiring an additional 23,586 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.