KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Here's Why

Key Points

• KLA shares climbed above their 200-day moving average, trading as high as $2,054.96 before last changing hands at $1,929.20. The move comes alongside a heavy trading volume of 1.86 million shares.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock, with 20 Buy ratings and 10 Hold ratings, giving KLA a consensus “Moderate Buy” and a target price of $1,842.19. Several firms recently raised targets, including Citi to $2,064 and Stifel to $1,910.
• KLA reported strong quarterly results and boosted returns to shareholders, beating EPS and revenue estimates, raising its quarterly dividend to $2.30 from $1.90, and authorizing a $7 billion share repurchase program. The company also announced a 10-for-1 stock split effective June 12.

Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $1,514.29 and traded as high as $2,054.96. KLA shares last traded at $1,929.20, with a volume of 1,857,551 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on KLAC. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of KLA from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank raised shares of KLA from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,800.00 to $2,064.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,700.00 to $1,910.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,842.19.

KLA Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $252.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $1,782.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $1,514.29.

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

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $8.41 EPS. The business's revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 37.06 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

KLA declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 4,512 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,794.00, for a total transaction of $8,094,528.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 75,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $136,155,630. The trade was a 5.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 91.48% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its stake in KLA by 17.1% in the fourth 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 during the period. 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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