Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 653.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,437,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,051,527 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $753,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. Financial Perspectives Inc grew 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 340 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 836.6% in the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 384 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on LRCX. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. KeyCorp upgraded 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 boosted their price objective on Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.59.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Shares of LRCX opened at $59.09 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $78.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.08. The company has a market capitalization of $75.85 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.52. Lam Research Co. has a 52 week low of $56.89 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.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s payout ratio is presently 27.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,117,560. This represents a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.