Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 6,048 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 900.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,720 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,048 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. B&L Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Lam Research during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of Lam Research during the third quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the third quarter worth $245,000. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 340 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc increased its position in Lam Research by 908.8% during the 4th quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 343 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp raised shares of Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Stock Down 2.9 %

LRCX opened at $72.61 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.34. The company has a market capitalization of $93.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. Lam Research Co. has a 1-year low of $68.87 and a 1-year high of $113.00. 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 (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.96%.

Lam Research 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.