First Merchants Corp Purchases 163,829 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

First Merchants Corp increased its position in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 932.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 181,406 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 163,829 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $13,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. Cypress Capital Group grew its stake in shares of Lam Research by 3.7% during the third quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 3,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,987,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Lam Research by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 364 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC grew its position in Lam Research by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Lam Research by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 10,249 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,364,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 10.1% in the third quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,272,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LRCX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Lam Research from $132.50 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.72.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of Lam Research stock opened at $83.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $106.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Lam Research Co. has a twelve month low of $68.87 and a twelve month high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. Sell-side analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid 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 1.10%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

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.