KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. KLA traded as high as $1,595.00 and last traded at $1,605.9310, with a volume of 163728 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $1,543.03.

KLAC has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on KLA from $1,260.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Citigroup raised their target price on KLA from $1,060.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on KLA from $1,250.00 to $1,560.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $1,600.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised KLA to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,477.64.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total transaction of $12,997,089.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the company’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 owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More KLA News

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple firms bumped up price targets and reiterated outperform/overweight calls, lifting sentiment and providing near-term upside catalysts. Wolfe Research raises KLAC price target to $1,800 Evercore raises KLAC price target to $1,700
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts cite rising AI infrastructure demand and growth in advanced packaging/WFE end-markets as drivers for KLA’s top-line momentum and durable order trends. KLA Benefits From Growing AI Infrastructure Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buying (e.g., FMR, UBS, Arrowstreet) and a stack of buy/outperform ratings support investor confidence and liquidity. KLA Q2 2026 Earnings Preview: Insider & Hedge Fund Activity
• Neutral Sentiment: Q2 earnings are scheduled after the close on Jan 29; consensus estimates are ~ $3.31B revenue and ~$8.98 EPS — the print and any guidance will likely swing sentiment. KLA Q2 2026 Earnings Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and models are focusing beyond headline EPS — watch revenue mix, product cycle timing, backlog, and margin drivers in the company’s guidance discussion. Countdown to KLA Q2 Earnings: Metrics Beyond Revenue & EPS
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling: 12 open-market sales and no purchases in the past six months (including sales by the CEO and other senior execs) could raise governance/conviction questions for some investors. Quiver Quant: Insider Trading Summary
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts flag potential margin pressure even as revenue grows — if KLA’s margins fall short of expectations, the rally could reverse. KLA’s Q2 Earnings Loom: Margin Pressure Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation questions after a >100% one-year run — some commentary asks whether the stock is already priced for perfection, increasing downside risk if guidance is conservative. Is It Too Late To Consider KLA After Its 121% One Year Surge?

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 1,114.3% in the 2nd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 85 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 7,100.0% during the second quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 72 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. lifted its position in KLA by 1.4% during the second quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. now owns 1,132 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 1.5% in the second quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 8,482 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,598,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. grew its position in KLA by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tilia Fiduciary Partners Inc. now owns 3,424 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,067,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $212.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.69. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,298.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,114.17.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.47 by $0.34. KLA had a return on equity of 107.26% and a net margin of 33.83%.The company had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.33 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is 23.86%.

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.