KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $1,411.49 and last traded at $1,404.5330, with a volume of 67502 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $1,400.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on KLAC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on KLA from $1,120.00 to $1,280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. New Street Research upped their price target on KLA from $980.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Argus set a $1,400.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,305.35.

KLA Trading Up 1.1%

The firm has a market cap of $185.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1,218.98 and a 200 day moving average of $1,063.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 EPS. KLA has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 7.920-9.480 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.86%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. This trade represents 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 insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 125.0% in the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at about $43,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.