Equities Analysts Issue Forecasts for KLA FY2026 Earnings

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) - Research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald issued their FY2026 EPS estimates for shares of KLA in a report released on Monday, June 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst C. Muse expects that the semiconductor company will post earnings of $34.78 per share for the year. Cantor Fitzgerald has a "Neutral" rating and a $800.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for KLA's current full-year earnings is $31.59 per share.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.26 earnings per share. KLA's revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other research firms have also commented on KLAC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of KLA from $950.00 to $900.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $910.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $795.39.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock traded up $27.30 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $856.59. 1,515,515 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,101,507. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $713.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $702.72. KLA has a 52-week low of $551.33 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The company has a market capitalization of $113.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.63%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,867,606.76. The trade was a 19.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total value of $7,381,006.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,740 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,803,042. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,829 shares of company stock worth $13,240,166. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth $1,175,756,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 95,141.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,674,347 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,138,221,000 after buying an additional 1,672,589 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 381.3% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 733,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $462,085,000 after acquiring an additional 580,967 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter worth about $348,822,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in KLA by 27.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,259,543,000 after acquiring an additional 404,634 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About KLA

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.