Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Purchases 99,016 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 880.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 110,261 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 99,016 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $7,964,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Perspectives Inc raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 908.8% during the fourth quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 343 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. West Oak Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 50.9% during the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Country Trust Bank raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lam Research Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $81.30 on Thursday. Lam Research Co. has a 1 year low of $68.87 and a 1 year high of $113.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $78.74 and a 200-day moving average of $78.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.46.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $9,907,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LRCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna raised shares of Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.22.

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.