Van ECK Associates Corp Reduces Stock Position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 72.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,500,141 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 11,580,930 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $325,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 652.9% during the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 8,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,241 shares in the last quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY acquired a new stake in Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at $815,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Lam Research by 20.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 238,275 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $194,451,000 after buying an additional 39,725 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 2.5% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 47,377 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $38,664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 68.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 35,991 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,372,000 after acquiring an additional 14,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LRCX. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, October 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Lam Research to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. B. Riley lowered their target price on shares of Lam Research from $132.50 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.72.

Lam Research Stock Performance

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $81.57 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $104.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.46. Lam Research Co. has a 1-year low of $68.87 and a 1-year high of $113.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $77.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.97.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 51.86%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.95%.

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.