KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Lowered to $200.00 at UBS Group

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target decreased by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $215.00 to $200.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 17.92% from the stock’s current price.

KLAC has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citic Securities lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 price objective on shares of KLA and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $253.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.

KLA Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of KLA stock opened at $169.61 on Tuesday. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $83.22 and a fifty-two week high of $307.37. The business’s fifty day moving average is $211.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $188.11. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $221.60 billion, a PE ratio of 46.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total value of $12,401,634.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,167,746.53. This trade represents a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $17,421,653.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 778,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,970,908.80. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470 in the last quarter. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 1,400.0% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its holdings in KLA by 696.1% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 326,349 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $98,463,000 after purchasing an additional 285,355 shares in the last quarter. Optimize Financial Inc. grew its holdings in KLA by 896.5% during the 2nd quarter. Optimize Financial Inc. now owns 20,768 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,266,000 after purchasing an additional 18,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Formuepleje A S increased its stake in KLA by 1,125.5% during the 2nd quarter. Formuepleje A S now owns 30,062 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,070,000 after buying an additional 27,609 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.