Willner & Heller LLC Takes Position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Willner & Heller LLC bought a new stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,143 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $805,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Lam Research by 1,394.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,081,071 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $13,123,440,000 after purchasing an additional 15,005,178 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter worth approximately $175,652,000. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lam Research by 886.9% in the fourth quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 349,792 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $25,266,000 after buying an additional 314,349 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Lam Research by 950.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 278,979 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $20,151,000 after acquiring an additional 252,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Lam Research by 215.4% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 341,900 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $279,018,000 after acquiring an additional 233,500 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $100.00 target price (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp upgraded 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut Lam Research from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lam Research presently has an average 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 midday trading on Monday, reaching $80.30. 10,347,143 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,876,011. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $74.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.63. The company 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. Lam Research Co. has a 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $4.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.85 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

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

Lam Research Company 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.