KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $1,910.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $1,700.00 to $1,910.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

KLAC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on KLA from $1,900.00 to $2,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,800.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of KLA from $1,595.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,835.00 to $1,875.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research cut KLA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,788.52.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC traded down $21.85 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $1,728.50. 157,418 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,065,773. The company has a market cap of $226.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $1,586.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,391.30. KLA has a 52-week low of $675.27 and a 52-week high of $1,939.36.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.17 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 95.45% and a net margin of 35.66%.KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.41 EPS. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that KLA will post 36.64 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 21.51%.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Close Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at $133,209,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted 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 worth $112,721,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in KLA by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 101,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $109,351,000 after acquiring an additional 5,586 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its position in KLA by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 96,846 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,676,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at about $119,618,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting KLA

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KLA beat Q3 expectations on both EPS and revenue, showing continued demand for its process-control tools. Strong operating cash flow and free cash flow figures were highlighted in the release. Press Release
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised shareholder returns: a higher quarterly dividend ($2.30/share) starting in May and an additional $7 billion share repurchase authorization — a clear cash-return catalyst. Press Release
• Positive Sentiment: Broker support picked up: multiple firms raised price targets and maintained bullish ratings (Needham to $2,000; Wells Fargo to $2,100; JPMorgan raised its target), which provides mid-term upside thesis for investors focused on AI-driven chip demand. Broker Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: KLA guided Q4 EPS to a range of $8.87–$10.87 (consensus ~$9.80) and revenue $3.4B–$3.8B (consensus ~$3.5B) — the midpoint is roughly in line with Street expectations but the wide ranges left some investors uncertain. Earnings/Guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: Management and analysts continue to point to AI-linked demand as the primary growth driver; this supports longer-term structural growth but timing and cadence of customer ramps remain the key variables. Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: Shares fell after the print because some investors expected even stronger near-term guidance or commentary; headlines noted the stock “tumbled” despite an above-consensus outlook, signaling profit-taking and knee-jerk reaction to guidance nuance. Seeking Alpha
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and recent run-up: KLAC has surged over the past year (~161% in some coverage) and trades at a high multiple (~50x 2026 EPS), increasing vulnerability to short-term profit-taking. Yahoo Finance

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.