PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires 2,774,135 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 887.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,086,571 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,774,135 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned about 0.24% of Lam Research worth $222,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 810.8% during the 4th quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 174,648 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $12,615,000 after acquiring an additional 155,473 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 976.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,815,817 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $141,303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647,195 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 810.9% during the fourth quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 97,569 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,047,000 after purchasing an additional 86,858 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,750,000. Finally, Marco Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 898.5% during the fourth quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 100,270 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,243,000 after purchasing an additional 90,228 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lam Research Stock Performance

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $79.01 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.82. 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 52-week low of $68.87 and a 52-week high of $113.00. The company has a market capitalization of $101.42 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LRCX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective 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, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Lam Research currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.22.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of Lam Research 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.