Needham & Company LLC Issues Positive Forecast for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Price

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its price objective upped by Needham & Company LLC from $1,350.00 to $1,800.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citic Securities boosted their price objective on KLA from $950.00 to $1,350.00 in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,500.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $1,100.00 to $1,500.00 in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on KLA from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,440.32.

KLA Trading Down 5.2%

KLAC opened at $1,486.18 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1,259.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,092.45. The firm has a market cap of $195.27 billion, a PE ratio of 46.66, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.69.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was 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 $97,704,954.10. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its stake in KLA by 125.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in KLA during the third quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company Profile

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.