Key Points
- KLA EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares on July 1 at an average price of $285.30, generating about $4.1 million. The filing says the sale was made to cover tax withholding tied to vested equity awards, and she still held 53,367 shares afterward.
- KLA posted strong quarterly results, reporting $9.40 EPS versus analyst expectations of $0.92 and revenue of $3.42 billion, topping estimates. Revenue rose 11.5% year over year, and the company also guided Q4 2026 EPS to a range of 8.87 to 10.87.
- Wall Street remains broadly positive, but valuation concerns persist. Recent analyst moves included higher price targets, with Bank of America raising its objective to $317, while the stock has also faced commentary warning that it looks expensive relative to fundamentals.
KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,037.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 53,367 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,225,605.10. The trade was a 21.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.
KLA Stock Performance
Shares of KLAC stock opened at $235.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $307.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.41. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $83.22 and a one year high of $307.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $211.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.70.
KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. KLA's revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.
KLA Cuts Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.06%.
KLA announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
Key KLA News
Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on KLAC shares. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of KLA from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.34.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on KLA
Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Monetary Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 0.4% in the second quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 3,773 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,380,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in KLA by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $934,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth $90,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in KLA by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,118 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $4,584,000 after buying an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 68,537 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $73,915,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
KLA Company Profile
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Get Free Report)
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.
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