Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Stock Position Boosted by Carderock Capital Management Inc.

Carderock Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX - Free Report) by 853.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 106,656 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 95,464 shares during the quarter. Lam Research accounts for about 1.9% of Carderock Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Carderock Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Lam Research were worth $7,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. West Oak Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Lam Research by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC grew its position in Lam Research by 159.1% in the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 500 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 484.2% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 555 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 896.7% during the fourth quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 598 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research lowered Lam Research from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp raised Lam Research from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Lam Research from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.77.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX traded up $1.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $80.30. The company had a trading volume of 10,347,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,876,011. Lam Research Co. has a 12 month low of $68.87 and a 12 month high of $113.00. The stock has a market cap of $103.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $74.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.99.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.05. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.02% and a return on equity of 50.60%. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.85 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Lam Research's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

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.