KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $279.34 and last traded at $278.39, with a volume of 14606789 shares. The stock had previously closed at $248.64.

More KLA News

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor chatter remains focused on stronger AI-driven semiconductor spending, with KLA viewed as a key beneficiary of rising wafer-fab capacity, new fab projects, and improved equipment-cycle expectations. KLA Corporation Stock (KLAC) Opinions on AI-Driven Semiconductor Cycle
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s recent upbeat outlook on wafer fab equipment demand and its large $7 billion buyback authorization continue to support bullish sentiment. Why KLA shares rose today
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive, with multiple firms reiterating buy-equivalent ratings and several raising price targets on expectations for continued AI infrastructure spending and semiconductor capital investment.
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusual call-option activity suggests traders are positioning for more upside, but options flow alone is not a clear fundamental catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: KLAC has been dragged lower as semiconductor peers fell broadly, and the Nasdaq-100 also softened on weakness in chip names such as Micron, AMD, Applied Materials, and Lam Research. QQQ is down 0.9% today, on KLAC stock price movement
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling by CEO Richard Wallace may add a small headwind to sentiment, though it does not change the longer-term demand story.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on KLA from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on KLA from $170.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of KLA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.34.

KLA Trading Down 11.8%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $209.75 and a 200-day moving average of $168.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $347.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.34, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.03.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $8.48. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 91.89% and a net margin of 35.66%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 26.06%.

KLA announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total transaction of $9,986,725.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 713,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,996,990.71. This trade represents a 5.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $119,618,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its stake in KLA by 151.2% during the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $171,230,000 after acquiring an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,812,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in KLA by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 91,413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $111,910,000 after acquiring an additional 21,850 shares during the period. Finally, Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA lifted its position in KLA by 521.1% during the 4th quarter. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA now owns 18,719 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,741,000 after acquiring an additional 15,705 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is 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.