Sciencast Management LP Takes $3 Million Position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 41,461 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,995,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LRCX. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 892.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,578,181 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,341,902,000 after acquiring an additional 16,706,708 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Lam Research by 7,601.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 12,945,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $990,464,000 after purchasing an additional 12,777,094 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 860.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,786,808 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $851,361,000 after purchasing an additional 10,559,508 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lam Research by 931.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,482,429 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $612,686,000 after purchasing an additional 7,659,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Lam Research by 843.4% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,661,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $264,470,000 after buying an additional 3,273,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $75.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.04, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $79.62 and its 200-day moving average is $77.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.73. Lam Research Co. has a one year low of $68.87 and a one year high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 51.86%. Equities research analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lam Research

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $9,907,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LRCX shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.06.

Lam Research Company Profile

Lam Research Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company offers ALTUS systems to deposit conformal films for tungsten metallization applications; SABRE electrochemical deposition products for copper interconnect transition that offers copper damascene manufacturing; SOLA ultraviolet thermal processing products for film treatments; and VECTOR plasma-enhanced CVD ALD products.