KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from analysts, with ten holding and eight buying recommendations, and an average target price of $890.59.
• Insider activity includes significant share sales, with insiders selling a total of 32,605 shares valued at $29.35 million over the past ninety days, indicating potential shifts in ownership confidence.
• KLA recently reported strong quarterly earnings with an EPS of $9.38, surpassing analyst expectations and reflecting a 23.6% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the eighteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $890.5882.

Several brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. Citigroup boosted their target price on KLA from $1,035.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on KLA from $590.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $790.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on KLA from $900.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,801 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 13,716 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $881.50, for a total value of $12,090,654.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 27,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,128,418. The trade was a 33.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,605 shares of company stock valued at $29,348,291 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,672,589 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter worth about $348,822,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 27.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,259,543,000 after purchasing an additional 404,634 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,191,262 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $750,638,000 after purchasing an additional 300,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 421.8% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 325,411 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $205,048,000 after purchasing an additional 263,051 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC traded up $14.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $932.63. The stock had a trading volume of 712,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 895,297. The firm has a market cap of $123.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.69, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $904.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $796.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.83. KLA has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $959.26.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.53 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 112.41% and a net margin of 33.41%.The business's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.60 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 7.760-9.300 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. KLA's payout ratio is 25.01%.

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.