KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Price Up 9.5% – Here’s What Happened

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) shares traded up 9.5% on Monday . The company traded as high as $2,089.50 and last traded at $2,112.9510. 268,019 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 1,058,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $1,929.20.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of KLA from $1,800.00 to $2,064.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,950.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. New Street Research lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,460.00 to $1,770.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of KLA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Argus boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,750.00 to $1,950.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,842.19.

KLA Stock Up 9.6%

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,782.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,516.97. The company has a market cap of $276.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 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.

KLA’s stock is scheduled to split on Friday, June 12th. The 10-1 split was announced on Thursday, May 7th. The newly created shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, June 11th.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.17 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.41 EPS. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 37.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.04%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 4,512 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.