KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $1,950.00 and last traded at $1,945.00, with a volume of 56030 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $1,888.38.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on KLAC shares. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on KLA from $1,800.00 to $2,064.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research lowered KLA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on KLA from $1,875.00 to $1,975.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on KLA from $1,700.00 to $1,910.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,842.19.

KLA Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.03, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $259.94 billion, a PE ratio of 56.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $1,691.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,465.39.

KLA’s stock is scheduled to split before the market opens on Friday, June 12th. The 10-1 split was announced on Thursday, May 7th. The newly issued shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, June 11th.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $8.41 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 37.06 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $2.30 dividend. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.04%.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to purchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 4,512 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $136,155,630. This trade represents a 5.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in KLA by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.