Winmill & CO. Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Winmill & CO. Inc. raised its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 900.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 109,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 98,100 shares during the quarter. Lam Research accounts for about 2.5% of Winmill & CO. Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Winmill & CO. Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $7,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Whale Capital LLP increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 1,991.1% during the fourth quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 2,060,945 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $148,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962,386 shares during the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 919.6% in the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 4,170 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 3,761 shares in the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 894.2% during the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,301 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,972,000 after buying an additional 24,555 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Lam Research by 653.3% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,437,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $753,870,000 after buying an additional 9,051,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 909.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,858,135 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,217,663,000 after purchasing an additional 15,188,173 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $59.09 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.08. Lam Research Co. has a twelve month low of $56.89 and a twelve month high of $113.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $75.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.52.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 27.96%.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on LRCX. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Susquehanna raised shares of Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $125.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on 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, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.59.

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.