Simmons Bank Boosts Holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Simmons Bank grew its stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX - Free Report) by 839.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,740 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 3,342 shares during the period. Simmons Bank's holdings in Lam Research were worth $270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Lam Research by 1,394.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,081,071 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $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 valued at $851,361,000 after acquiring an additional 10,559,508 shares during the period. National Pension Service purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the 4th quarter valued at $219,200,000. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Lam Research by 1,488.8% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,069,002 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $221,674,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875,843 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Lam Research by 827.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,819,668 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp raised Lam Research from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Lam Research from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.22.

Lam Research Price Performance

NASDAQ LRCX traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $76.70. The stock had a trading volume of 22,602,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,920,543. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.10. The company has a market cap of $98.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.46. Lam Research Co. has a 52-week low of $68.87 and a 52-week 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.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,117,560. This trade represents a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

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.