Amundi Acquires 12,777,094 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Amundi lifted its holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 7,601.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,945,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,777,094 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 1.01% of Lam Research worth $990,464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Foster & Motley Inc. bought a new stake in Lam Research during the 3rd quarter valued at $591,000. M&G PLC increased its position in Lam Research by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 24,662 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,124,000 after purchasing an additional 4,431 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust increased its position in Lam Research by 109.2% during the 3rd quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 931 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments increased its position in Lam Research by 60.2% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 7,208 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,708 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd purchased a new position in Lam Research during the 3rd quarter valued at $430,000. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lam Research

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This represents a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Price Performance

LRCX opened at $79.01 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $101.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.82. Lam Research Co. has a 52-week low of $68.87 and a 52-week high of $113.00.

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

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LRCX shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.22.

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.