Sanford C. Bernstein Issues Positive Forecast for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Price

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $1,875.00 to $1,975.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target indicates a potential upside of 13.47% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on KLAC. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Barclays increased their price target on KLA from $1,595.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,750.00 to $1,950.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on shares of KLA from $1,770.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citic Securities upped their price target on shares of KLA from $1,350.00 to $1,970.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,842.19.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,740.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $227.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.50. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1,657.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,446.99. KLA has a one year low of $740.44 and a one year high of $1,939.36.

KLA’s stock is set to split on the morning of Friday, June 12th. The 10-1 split was announced on Thursday, May 7th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Thursday, June 11th.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.17 by $0.23. KLA had a return on equity of 91.89% and a net margin of 35.66%.The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Equities analysts expect that KLA will post 37.06 EPS for the current year.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 4,512 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,794.00, for a total transaction of $8,094,528.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $136,155,630. This represents a 5.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter worth $40,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in KLA by 28.6% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $55,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.