Cincinnati Financial Corp Buys 249,516 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Cincinnati Financial Corp lifted its stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 900.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 277,240 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 249,516 shares during the quarter. Cincinnati Financial Corp’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $20,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. West Oak Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Lam Research by 5.7% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,729 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,216,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. grew its holdings in Lam Research by 12.5% in the third quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 1,765 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 40.5% in the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $566,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,809,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Price Performance

Lam Research stock opened at $74.81 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.32. 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 1 year low of $68.87 and a 1 year high of $113.00. The company has a market capitalization of $96.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $16,117,560. This 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on LRCX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.06.

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.