KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Trading 8.2% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) rose 8.2% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $255.87 and last traded at $258.3230. Approximately 2,253,092 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 10,868,529 shares. The stock had previously closed at $238.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on KLA from $187.50 to $197.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Dbs Bank upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their target price on KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $342.44.

KLA Stock Up 8.2%

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $191.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $158.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $337.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $8.48. The business had revenue of $3.42 billion for 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%.KLA’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

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

KLA announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total value of $9,986,725.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 713,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,996,990.71. This trade represents a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 91.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Monetary Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the second quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 3,773 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,380,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 1.6% during the second quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at about $90,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 13.8% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,118 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,584,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 6.7% during the third quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.