KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Hits New 52-Week High - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• KLA shares hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $268.41 and closing near that level after rising about 2.8% on the day. The move comes despite the stock already being well above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on KLA, with 20 Buy ratings and 10 Hold ratings, giving it a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $345.84. Several firms recently lifted their targets, including JPMorgan, UBS, and New Street Research.
• The company posted strong earnings and is returning capital to shareholders, reporting $9.40 EPS on $3.42 billion in revenue, both above estimates, while also maintaining a quarterly dividend and a $7 billion stock buyback authorization. However, CEO Richard P. Wallace recently sold more than 45,000 shares.

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $268.41 and last traded at $266.2240, with a volume of 952014 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.56.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on KLAC shares. New Street Research raised their price objective on KLA from $146.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $218.00 target price (up from $177.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of KLA from $187.50 to $197.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $345.84.

KLA Stock Up 2.8%

The firm has a market cap of $348.51 billion, a PE ratio of 75.78, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.03. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $195.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $8.48. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. On average, analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.06%.

KLA announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total transaction of $9,986,725.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 713,830 shares in the company, valued at $157,996,990.71. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westpac Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 11.2% during the third quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 9,276 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $10,005,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 4,023.1% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,303,000 after buying an additional 1,046 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in KLA by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $4,937,000 after buying an additional 1,886 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in KLA by 14.8% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 69,563 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $74,898,000 after buying an additional 8,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BOKF NA boosted its holdings in KLA by 16.6% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 8,534 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $9,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares in 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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