KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Falls 5% – Time to Sell?

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) shares dropped 5% on Friday. The stock traded as low as $165.20 and last traded at $165.74. 13,100,458 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 18% from the average daily volume of 11,097,257 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.46.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $195.00 price objective (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded KLA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Bank of America raised their target price on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.26.

KLA Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $187.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $196.86. 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 $216.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the 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 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 243,339 shares of company stock valued at $46,903,454. Corporate insiders own 79.39% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at $376,000. Aspiriant LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 1,438 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at $314,000. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth $6,937,000. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 343.5% during the 3rd quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 5,070 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process-control and yield-management solutions used by semiconductor and electronics manufacturers. Its systems help customers detect defects, measure and analyze materials and structures, and monitor manufacturing processes throughout the production of integrated circuits and other advanced electronic components.

The company’s product portfolio includes inspection and metrology systems, wafer and reticle inspection equipment, process-control software, data analytics tools, and related services.