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

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-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 trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $2,000.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,950.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of KLA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,842.19.

KLA Price Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $252.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.61, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.50. The company’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 scheduled to split on the morning of Friday, June 12th. The 10-1 split was announced on Thursday, May 7th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Thursday, June 11th.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.41 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 37.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $2.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.04%.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 4,512 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 75,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $136,155,630. This represents a 5.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Westpac Banking Corp lifted its position 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 worth $10,005,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 4,023.1% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 86.6% in the fourth 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 during the period. BOKF NA lifted its holdings in KLA by 16.6% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 8,534 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,205,000 after buying an additional 1,218 shares during the period. Finally, Close Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in KLA in the third quarter valued at approximately $133,209,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.