KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Upgraded to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $1,600.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $1,250.00.

KLAC has been the subject of several other research reports. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on KLA from $1,010.00 to $1,460.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of KLA from $1,060.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $1,694.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $820.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,410.86.

KLA Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,572.65 on Thursday. KLA has a 12-month low of $551.33 and a 12-month high of $1,578.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,239.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,076.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.47 by $0.34. KLA had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 107.26%. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. The company’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. Research analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total value of $12,997,089.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,704,954.10. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its position in KLA by 185.4% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,382,000 after acquiring an additional 1,808 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter worth $80,000. CCM Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 12,210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. increased its holdings in KLA by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 3,348 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,069,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More KLA News

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo upgraded KLAC to “overweight” and raised its price target to $1,600, citing stronger WFE demand and upside from 2nm capacity expansion. Wells Fargo upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein initiated/updated coverage with a “strong-buy”/Outperform view, reinforcing the bullish analyst momentum on KLA’s growth runway. Bernstein coverage
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen upgraded KLA to Buy and other firms (Cantor Fitzgerald, Stifel, BofA) have recently lifted price targets (examples: BofA to $1,650), adding to the upward re-rating by Wall Street. TD Cowen upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target to $1,650, reflecting expectations for continued sales strength in equipment for advanced nodes. BofA price target
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC Capital initiated/updated coverage with a Sector Perform / Hold stance (an “upgrade” to hold was reported), which is less bullish than other shops and may temper some upside expectations. RBC coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Data aggregators highlight substantial insider selling in recent months and note mixed institutional flows; persistent insider sales and KLAC’s rich valuation (high P/E) are potential risks that could limit further gains. QuiverQuant data

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.