KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $270.00

Key Points

• Needham & Company raised KLA’s price target from $200 to $270 and reiterated a buy rating, implying about 17.65% upside from the prior close.
• KLA has seen multiple analyst upgrades recently, with the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $284.98 across Wall Street.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, including EPS of $9.40 that far beat estimates, along with revenue growth of 11.5% year over year; it also authorized a $7 billion share repurchase program.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $200.00 to $270.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the semiconductor company's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target would suggest a potential upside of 17.65% from the stock's previous close.

KLAC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citic Securities boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America raised their price objective on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings cut KLA from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $200.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $284.98.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $229.49 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $215.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 3.03 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The company has a market cap of $299.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.41. KLA has a one year low of $83.22 and a one year high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $8.48. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The business had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. KLA's quarterly 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 analysts expect that KLA will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total transaction of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total value of $9,986,725.44. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 132,333 shares of company stock valued at $29,547,170. 91.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in KLA by 4,023.1% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $4,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the period. BOKF NA raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 868.2% in the 3rd quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 2,924 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,154,000 after acquiring an additional 2,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its stake in KLA by 6.2% in the third quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $112,721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,109 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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