TCW Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

TCW Group Inc. raised its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 837.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 287,011 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 256,392 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $20,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Perspectives Inc lifted its stake in Lam Research by 908.8% in the 4th quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 343 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. West Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 50.9% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Country Trust Bank increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Finley Financial LLC acquired a new position in Lam Research in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 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 on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $9,907,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Trading Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $86.02 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $78.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.04. Lam Research Co. has a 12 month low of $68.87 and a 12 month 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 market capitalization of $110.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.46.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 51.86%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. 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 1.07%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is presently 27.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LRCX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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 note on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp raised shares of Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lam Research currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.