KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given New $274.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price target boosted by Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $274.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 12.52% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on KLAC. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Dbs Bank upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on KLA from $170.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of KLA in a 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.34.

KLA Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of KLAC opened at $243.50 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $211.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $170.04. 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 $318.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.41. KLA has a 12-month low of $83.22 and a 12-month high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $8.48. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that KLA will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total value of $4,106,037.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 53,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,225,605.10. This trade represents a 21.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total value of $9,986,725.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 713,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,996,990.71. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 104,632 shares of company stock valued at $22,187,291 in the last three months. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 6.8% in the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Motco boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp grew its position in shares of KLA by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.