National Pension Service Acquires Shares of 3,034,748 Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

National Pension Service purchased a new position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 3,034,748 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,200,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 1,394.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,081,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,123,440,000 after purchasing an additional 15,005,178 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 860.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,786,808 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $851,361,000 after acquiring an additional 10,559,508 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 1,488.8% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,069,002 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $221,674,000 after acquiring an additional 2,875,843 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Lam Research by 827.2% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,160,523 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $228,285,000 after purchasing an additional 2,819,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Lam Research during the 4th quarter valued at about $175,652,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $9,907,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lam Research Stock Performance

LRCX opened at $80.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.62 and a 200-day moving average of $78.11. 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 52-week low of $68.87 and a 52-week high of $113.00. The company has a market cap of $103.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.46.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 research analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders 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 1.15%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LRCX. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho boosted 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, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.22.

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.