First Business Financial Services Inc. Grows Stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

First Business Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 935.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,585 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,729 shares during the period. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $2,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LRCX. Foster & Motley Inc. purchased a new position in Lam Research in the third quarter worth $591,000. M&G PLC grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 21.9% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 24,662 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,124,000 after buying an additional 4,431 shares during the last quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 109.2% during the third quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 931 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the last quarter. Olympiad Research LP grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 35.5% during the third quarter. Olympiad Research LP now owns 725 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $592,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 60.2% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 7,208 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,882,000 after buying an additional 2,708 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $9,907,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares in the company, valued at $16,117,560. This represents a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of Lam Research stock opened at $79.05 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.82. The company has a market cap of $101.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.46. Lam Research Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.87 and a fifty-two week high of $113.00. 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 (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.22.

Lam Research Company 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.