Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Grows Position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 872.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 25,726 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 23,080 shares during the quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $1,858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 1,394.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 15,005,178 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 860.4% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 10,559,508 shares during the period. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 1,488.8% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,069,002 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $221,674,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875,843 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 827.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,160,523 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $228,285,000 after purchasing an additional 2,819,668 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $175,652,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $80.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.39, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.11. Lam Research Co. has a 52-week low of $68.87 and a 52-week high of $113.00.

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, 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%. Analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on LRCX shares. Wolfe Research lowered Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.22.

Lam Research 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.