Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Purchases New Shares in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership bought a new position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,191,653 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $374,993,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.40% of Lam Research as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Lam Research by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Baldwin Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 1.4% in the third quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 10,249 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,364,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,216,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. grew its holdings in Lam Research by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 1,765 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 40.5% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.06.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $16,117,560. This represents a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lam Research Trading Down 2.0 %

LRCX opened at $76.14 on Thursday. Lam Research Co. has a 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $113.00. The firm has a market cap of $97.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $79.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released 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 return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. On average, research analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.96%.

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.