Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Purchased by Covington Investment Advisors Inc.

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 956.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 161,805 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 146,494 shares during the quarter. Lam Research makes up approximately 1.0% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $11,687,000 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 stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 108,619,564 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,661,672,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Lam Research by 892.7% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Lam Research by 7,601.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in 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 worth $851,361,000 after buying an additional 10,559,508 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their price target 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lam Research presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.06.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,117,560. This trade represents a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lam Research Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $74.81 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $96.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. 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 1 year low of $68.87 and a 1 year high of $113.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $79.66 and a 200-day moving average of $77.32.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. Equities analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

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.