KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $279.34 and last traded at $278.39, with a volume of 14606789 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $248.64.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. New Street Research upped their target price on shares of KLA from $146.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $305.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $273.59.

KLA Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $363.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $205.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.17.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released 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 business 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 business’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid 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 declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $157,996,990.71. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in KLA by 4,023.1% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 86.6% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,937,000 after buying an additional 1,886 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 16.6% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 69,563 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $74,898,000 after buying an additional 8,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in shares of KLA by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 54,252 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,516,000 after buying an additional 1,590 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.