Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Purchases 600,369 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 919.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 665,651 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 600,369 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $48,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Lam Research by 892.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,578,181 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,341,902,000 after purchasing an additional 16,706,708 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 12,777,094 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Lam Research by 860.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,786,808 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $851,361,000 after purchasing an additional 10,559,508 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lam Research by 931.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,482,429 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $612,686,000 after purchasing an additional 7,659,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX opened at $77.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $99.55 billion, a PE ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $79.60 and a 200 day moving average of $77.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.54. Lam Research Co. has a one year low of $68.87 and a one year high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, research analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on LRCX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lam Research has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.