Maverick Capital Ltd. Takes Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,371 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,130,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter worth about $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in KLA by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after acquiring an additional 386,810 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in KLA by 25.7% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,017 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $720,936,000 after acquiring an additional 211,227 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in KLA by 2,205.8% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 201,592 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $166,215,000 after acquiring an additional 192,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of KLA by 136.2% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 309,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $214,667,000 after purchasing an additional 178,474 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on KLAC. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $750.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $809.81.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $782.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $769.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $756.50. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $443.71 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The firm has a market cap of $105.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,644,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB, Display and Component Inspection.