Hardy Reed LLC Raises Stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Hardy Reed LLC raised its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 906.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,886 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,202 shares during the quarter. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LRCX. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 1,394.7% during 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 buying an additional 15,005,178 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 1,488.8% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,069,002 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $221,674,000 after buying an additional 2,875,843 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the 4th quarter valued at $175,652,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Lam Research by 949.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,625,490 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $189,639,000 after purchasing an additional 2,375,385 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. B. Riley dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $132.50 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.72.

Lam Research Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $87.66 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $112.53 billion, a PE ratio of 26.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.46. Lam Research Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.87 and a fifty-two week high of $113.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.90. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 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%. Analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 27.95%.

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.