Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Boosts Holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 874.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 96,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 86,751 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $6,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Perspectives Inc boosted its position in shares of Lam Research by 908.8% in the 4th quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 343 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 340 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lam Research in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc increased its stake in Lam Research by 836.6% during the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 384 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on LRCX shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna raised Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. 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 note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. This represents a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Trading Down 2.1 %

LRCX opened at $62.39 on Tuesday. Lam Research Co. has a 1-year low of $56.32 and a 1-year 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 firm has a market capitalization of $80.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.52. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.76.

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, 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 fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 27.96%.

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.