KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Price Target Raised to $1,650.00

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Bank of America from $1,450.00 to $1,650.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target points to a potential upside of 15.53% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on KLAC. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. New Street Research increased their target price on KLA from $980.00 to $1,230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report 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 research note on Thursday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on KLA from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on KLA from $1,070.00 to $1,485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,318.81.

KLA Trading Up 2.0%

KLAC opened at $1,428.17 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $1,223.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,067.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 1.88. KLA has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $1,432.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $187.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.84, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.45.

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. Sell-side analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,117 shares during the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $95,217,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its position in KLA by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $112,721,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109 shares during the period. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its position in KLA by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 101,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $109,351,000 after acquiring an additional 5,586 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.