KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Raised to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) was upgraded by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $1,600.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $1,250.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 3.56% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on KLAC. Morgan Stanley set a $1,694.00 price objective on KLA in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $1,300.00 to $1,800.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Argus set a $1,400.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on KLA from $1,135.00 to $1,260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $1,100.00 to $1,500.00 in a report on Monday, December 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,410.86.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,544.96 on Thursday. KLA has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $1,571.49. The company has a market cap of $202.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,239.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,076.74.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $7.33 EPS. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 7.920-9.480 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the 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 transaction of $12,997,089.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 91.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 1.1% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 188,735 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $169,056,000 after purchasing an additional 2,117 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the second quarter valued at $95,217,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. grew its position in KLA by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $112,721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in KLA by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 101,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $109,351,000 after acquiring an additional 5,586 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about KLA

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo upgraded KLA to Overweight/Buy, citing stronger WFE demand as fabs ramp for 2nm and driving upward revisions to sales and earnings expectations. Why KLA Corp Stock Popped Today
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen upgraded KLA to Buy, joining other firms raising conviction that the chip-equipment cycle is accelerating and supporting higher revenue traction. TD Cowen Upgrades KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) to Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein initiated coverage with an Outperform and set a $1,700 price target; Bank of America also raised its target to $1,650 — these high targets reinforce upside expectations and likely supported buying. New Analyst Forecast: $KLAC Given $1700 Price Target Bank of America Boosts KLA Price Target
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC Capital initiated coverage with a Sector Perform rating — a more cautious stance that suggests some analysts see less near-term upside than the most bullish shops. RBC Capital initiates coverage of KLA
• Neutral Sentiment: Market-data trackers show heavy intraday volume and KLAC among the most-searched tickers, indicating momentum-driven flows and institutional rebalancing behind the move. $KLAC stock is up 7% today. Here’s what we see in our data.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling has been active (multiple recent open-market sales by executives), which can be a signal for some investors to take profits or be cautious about near-term upside. $KLAC insider activity
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation is elevated (mid-to-high 40s P/E on trailing/consensus numbers per recent coverage); some outlets flag that KLAC trades at a premium to historical multiples, which increases sensitivity to execution or cyclical risks. Valuation note

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.