KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• KLA Corporation has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 20 buy ratings and 10 hold ratings across 30 analysts. The average 1-year price target is about $1,838.48.
• The company is set to complete a 10-for-1 stock split on June 12, following the May 7 announcement. Shares were also recently boosted by a quarter that beat expectations, with EPS of $9.40 versus $9.17 expected and revenue of $3.42 billion.
• KLA raised its quarterly dividend to $2.30 per share from $1.90, and its board authorized a $7 billion share buyback. The company’s dividend yield is about 0.5%.

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the thirty research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $1,838.4815.

KLAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,800.00 to $2,064.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,770.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $2,000.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, April 30th.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock opened at $1,811.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.61 billion, a PE ratio of 51.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.50. The company's 50-day moving average is $1,621.40 and its 200-day moving average is $1,425.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 3.03 and a quick ratio of 2.11. KLA has a 1 year low of $740.44 and a 1 year high of $1,939.36.

KLA's stock is set 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 payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Thursday, June 11th.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $8.41 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that KLA will post 37.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $2.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 4,512 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,794.00, for a total value of $8,094,528.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 75,895 shares in the company, valued at $136,155,630. This represents a 5.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $133,209,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $119,618,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its stake in KLA by 151.2% in the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $171,230,000 after buying an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in KLA by 69.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 87,547 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $94,422,000 after buying an additional 35,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinebridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,812,000. 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.

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