Candriam S.C.A. Invests $49.52 Million in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Candriam S.C.A. acquired a new position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 685,631 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,523,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Perspectives Inc increased its holdings 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. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in Lam Research during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lam Research during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. West Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in Lam Research by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Country Trust Bank increased its holdings in Lam Research by 900.0% during the 4th quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Stock Performance

LRCX stock opened at $79.05 on Thursday. Lam Research Co. has a 1 year low of $68.87 and a 1 year high of $113.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $79.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.82. The company has a market cap of $101.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.46. 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 (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 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 forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp raised Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wolfe Research cut Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Susquehanna raised Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $9,907,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. This trade represents a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.