KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Up 7.6% – Still a Buy?

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) traded up 7.6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $262.79 and last traded at $267.4430. 3,302,169 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 11,167,087 shares. The stock had previously closed at $248.64.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on KLAC. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of KLA from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $305.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, New Street Research upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $146.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.59.

KLA Trading Up 12.0%

The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $363.89 billion, a PE ratio of 78.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $203.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $165.07.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.06%.

KLA declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total transaction of $9,986,725.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 713,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,996,990.71. This represents a 5.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 180,279 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $265,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its position in shares of KLA by 151.2% in the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $171,230,000 after buying an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. grew its position in KLA by 6.2% during the third quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $112,721,000 after buying an additional 6,109 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 96,846 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,676,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $119,618,000. Institutional investors 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.