Chase Investment Counsel Corp Makes New Investment in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,148 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $371,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $1,341,902,000 after purchasing an additional 16,706,708 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased 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 buying an additional 15,005,178 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 860.4% in the 4th 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. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,886,676 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,817,113,000 after buying an additional 94,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $228,285,000 after buying an additional 2,819,668 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $9,907,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of LRCX stock opened at $76.70 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $98.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.09. Lam Research Co. has a one year low of $68.87 and a one year high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is presently 27.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced 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. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.