KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Now Rated "Moderate Buy" by Wall Street Brokerages

Key Points

• Wall Street has a “Moderate Buy” consensus on KLA, with 18 buy ratings and 11 holds among 29 analysts. The average 12-month price target is $221.26.
• KLA reported quarterly EPS of $1.05, exceeding the $1.00 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 15.2% year over year to $3.66 billion. Shares opened at $195.57, with a market capitalization of approximately $255.2 billion.
• Insiders sold $46.9 million worth of shares over the past three months, while institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company. KLA also maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, yielding about 0.5%.

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $221.26.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of KLA from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Susquehanna set a $215.00 price objective on shares of KLA and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at $16,167,746.53. This represents a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Richard Wallace sold 72,019 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.88, for a total value of $12,378,625.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 706,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,506,269. This represents a 9.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 243,339 shares of company stock valued at $46,903,454 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 79.39% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in KLA by 928.9% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,821,622 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $4,471,832,000 after acquiring an additional 13,381,153 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,522,430,000. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of KLA by 899.4% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,634,859 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,096,673,000 after purchasing an additional 3,271,158 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 987.0% during the 2nd quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 979,371 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $295,486,000 after purchasing an additional 889,269 shares during the period. Finally, Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 960.4% in the 2nd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 926,652 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $279,580,000 after purchasing an additional 839,265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

KLA Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $195.57 on Friday. KLA has a 1 year low of $98.10 and a 1 year high of $307.37. The firm has a market cap of $255.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.33, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $188.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.65.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. KLA's payout ratio is 25.07%.

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.

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