Blume Capital Management Inc. Buys 2,970 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 900.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 2,970 shares during the quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LRCX. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 892.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,578,181 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,341,902,000 after acquiring an additional 16,706,708 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 7,601.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 12,945,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $990,464,000 after buying an additional 12,777,094 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 860.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Lam Research by 931.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,482,429 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $612,686,000 after acquiring an additional 7,659,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Lam Research by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,886,676 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,817,113,000 after purchasing an additional 94,086 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on LRCX shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.22.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In related 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 in the company, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX opened at $75.26 on Friday. Lam Research Co. has a 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $113.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.54. The firm has a market cap of $96.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.44.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The company 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 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 1.22%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 27.96%.

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.