KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty-five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $1,228.2917.

Several brokerages have commented on KLAC. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,000.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,260.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,060.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,120.00 to $1,280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $1,208.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. KLA has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $1,284.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,037.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $901.29. The stock has a market cap of $159.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.95, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.50.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.47 by $0.34. KLA had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 113.10%. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $7.33 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 7.920-9.480 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.01%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,801 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total value of $9,868,657.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,818 shares in the company, valued at $84,805,950.24. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 8,049 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total transaction of $7,354,210.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,488,132.72. This represents a 41.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 32,566 shares of company stock worth $29,313,522 in the last three months. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in KLA by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 836 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in KLA by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 267 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in KLA by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 581 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $627,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,224 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB and Component Inspection.