Norges Bank Takes $1.66 Billion Position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 23,005,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,661,672,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Lam Research by 892.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,787,727 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,724,498,000 after buying an additional 108,619,564 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 892.7% during the fourth 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 during the period. Amundi grew its position in Lam Research by 7,601.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 12,945,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $990,464,000 after buying an additional 12,777,094 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Lam Research by 931.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,482,429 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $612,686,000 after purchasing an additional 7,659,830 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Price Performance

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $76.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $97.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.33. Lam Research Co. has a 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. Research analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LRCX has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho lifted 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research lowered Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were 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 $16,117,560. This trade represents a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.