KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $1,600.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $1,250.00.

KLAC has been the subject of several other reports. Citic Securities raised their price target on KLA from $950.00 to $1,350.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on KLA from $1,260.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on KLA from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Citigroup upped their price target on KLA from $1,060.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on KLA in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $1,550.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,410.86.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $1,567.82 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $1,246.53 and its 200 day moving average is $1,082.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $206.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.23, a PEG ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 1.45. KLA has a twelve month low of $551.33 and a twelve month high of $1,581.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.47 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.26% and a net margin of 33.83%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.33 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 7.920-9.480 EPS. Research analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is 23.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total value of $12,997,089.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Trust Point Inc. raised its stake in KLA by 58.0% during the second quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 774 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter worth about $215,000. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 6,734 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,032,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,765 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,477,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

More KLA News

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple broker upgrades and raised price targets — Wells Fargo (overweight, $1,600 PT), Bernstein (strong-buy/outperform), TD Cowen (buy) and others have recently upgraded or increased targets, supporting momentum and buy-side interest. Wells Fargo upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: TSMC’s $52–$56B 2026 CapEx directly benefits equipment and inspection suppliers; MarketBeat highlights KLA as a key beneficiary because higher process-control intensity for 2nm increases inspection demand and recurring service/replacement revenue. The $56 Billion Draft
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying: large funds (e.g., FMR, UBS AM, Arrowstreet) have materially increased KLAC positions in recent filings, providing demand support and validating the growth narrative. $KLAC up 7% — QuiverQuant
• Positive Sentiment: Positive media/market attention — commentators like Jim Cramer and momentum pieces (Zacks, MarketBeat summaries) are drawing retail and momentum flows into the name. Jim Cramer: KLA is “Terrific”
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC initiated coverage with a sector‑perform (neutral) stance; that provides coverage breadth but is not a bullish endorsement. RBC coverage initiation
• Neutral Sentiment: Momentum and stock‑narrative pieces (e.g., Zacks) highlight KLAC as a momentum pick — supports technical-driven flows but increases sensitivity to sentiment reversals. Zacks momentum piece
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy insider selling over the past 6 months — multiple executives (including the CEO) sold large blocks of shares, which can signal cashing out and may concern some investors about near-term conviction. QuiverQuant insider trading & lobbying summary
• Negative Sentiment: Lobbying disclosures show KLA spent ~$170k in Q4 2025 on trade-policy and R&D/tax issues (routine but highlights regulatory focus around export controls and China trade policy). Could matter if geopolitical measures tighten equipment exports. Lobbying disclosure

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.