Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Purchases 18,494 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 855.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,655 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,494 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $1,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Holderness Investments Co. lifted its position in Lam Research by 890.4% in the fourth quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 6,081 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 5,467 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in Lam Research by 917.1% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 62,819 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,537,000 after purchasing an additional 56,643 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its position in Lam Research by 872.5% in the fourth quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 47,670 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,443,000 after purchasing an additional 42,768 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in Lam Research by 863.9% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 273,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $19,761,000 after purchasing an additional 245,206 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Lam Research by 1,168.2% in the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 182,320 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,169,000 after purchasing an additional 167,944 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 approximately $16,117,560. This trade represents a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LRCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Susquehanna upgraded Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.06.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of LRCX opened at $75.84 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Lam Research Co. has a 1 year low of $68.87 and a 1 year high of $113.00. The stock has a market cap of $97.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $79.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.28.

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

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.96%.

About Lam Research

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.