Nuance Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 103,190 Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Nuance Investments LLC bought a new position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 103,190 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,453,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Lam Research by 892.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,787,727 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,724,498,000 after purchasing an additional 108,619,564 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 892.7% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,578,181 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,341,902,000 after buying an additional 16,706,708 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Lam Research by 7,601.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 12,945,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $990,464,000 after buying an additional 12,777,094 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted 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 acquiring an additional 10,559,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Lam Research by 931.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,482,429 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $612,686,000 after acquiring an additional 7,659,830 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of Lam Research stock opened at $77.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $79.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.31. Lam Research Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.87 and a fifty-two week high of $113.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $99.70 billion, a PE ratio of 23.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LRCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target 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. Susquehanna upgraded Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $125.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. KeyCorp raised Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares in the company, valued at $16,117,560. This trade represents a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate 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.