KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• KLA has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 20 buy ratings and 10 hold ratings across 30 covering firms. The average 12-month price target is about $1,842.
• The semiconductor equipment maker recently beat earnings and revenue expectations for the quarter, reporting EPS of $9.40 on revenue of $3.42 billion. Revenue rose 11.5% year over year, and the company also issued upbeat Q4 2026 guidance.
• KLA is set to complete a 10-for-1 stock split on June 12 and recently increased its quarterly dividend to $2.30 per share. The company also has a $7 billion share buyback authorization in place.

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the thirty research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $1,842.1852.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $1,900.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. New Street Research raised their target price on KLA from $1,460.00 to $1,770.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,865.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on KLA from $1,900.00 to $2,100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock opened at $1,929.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.03. KLA has a 52 week low of $799.77 and a 52 week high of $2,156.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $252.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,782.32 and a 200-day moving average of $1,514.29.

Shares of KLA are going to split on the morning of Friday, June 12th. The 10-1 split was announced on Thursday, May 7th. The newly minted shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Thursday, June 11th.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $9.17 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.37 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 91.89% and a net margin of 35.66%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.41 EPS. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KLA will post 37.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is a positive change from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. This represents a $9.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. KLA's dividend payout ratio is 26.04%.

KLA announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 4,512 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,794.00, for a total transaction of $8,094,528.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,895 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $136,155,630. This trade represents a 5.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the period. Motco lifted its position in KLA by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $492,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp raised its stake in KLA by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC raised its stake in KLA by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $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.

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.

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