Aviva PLC Purchases 774,587 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Aviva PLC increased its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 881.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 862,455 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 774,587 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $62,295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lam Research by 892.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Lam Research by 907.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,428,010 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,265,610,000 after buying an additional 28,307,499 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,661,672,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $1,341,902,000 after buying an additional 16,706,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 7,601.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 12,945,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $990,464,000 after buying an additional 12,777,094 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LRCX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Susquehanna raised Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $75.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.59.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Shares of LRCX stock opened at $59.09 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.07. Lam Research Co. has a one year low of $57.97 and a one year high of $113.00. The stock has a market cap of $75.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.73.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued 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, equities analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s payout ratio is presently 27.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lam Research 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 value of $9,907,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares in the company, valued at $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.