KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives $223.70 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-nine research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nineteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $223.70.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citic Securities raised their price objective on KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 9th.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC opened at $183.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. KLA has a 1-year low of $83.22 and a 1-year high of $307.37. The company has a market capitalization of $240.39 billion, a PE ratio of 50.17, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $220.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.33.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that KLA will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s payout ratio is 25.07%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tanager Wealth Management LLP raised its stake in KLA by 1,074.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tanager Wealth Management LLP now owns 2,795 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $843,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557 shares during the period. DMC Group LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 887.3% in the 2nd quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 8,560 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,583,000 after purchasing an additional 7,693 shares in the last quarter. Greenland Capital Management LP bought a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $650,000. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in KLA by 627.3% in the 2nd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 588.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,873 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,487,000 after buying an additional 12,712 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.