Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Acquired by PFG Advisors

PFG Advisors grew its holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 918.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 24,333 shares during the quarter. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Lam Research were worth $1,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,560,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 962.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 26,683 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,927,000 after purchasing an additional 24,172 shares during the period. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at about $333,000. Natural Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 823.2% in the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,756,675 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $126,885,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566,403 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lam Research Trading Up 4.4 %

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $76.59 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.46. 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. The firm has a market cap of $98.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

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 $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.96%.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $16,117,560. This trade represents a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna raised shares of Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $125.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lam Research presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.22.

Lam Research 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.