Insider Selling: Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) SVP Sells 110,080 Shares of Stock

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Lam Research stock traded down $3.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $85.87. The stock had a trading volume of 5,276,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,210,961. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $78.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.97. The company has a market capitalization of $110.23 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.46. Lam Research Co. has a 52-week low of $68.87 and a 52-week high of $113.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released 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 net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 51.86%. On average, research analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on LRCX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Lam Research to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Six 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.22.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Lam Research by 892.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,787,727 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,724,498,000 after buying an additional 108,619,564 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Lam Research by 1,032.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,031,194 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,891,453,000 after buying an additional 36,496,689 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lam Research by 950.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,543,915 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,495,128,000 after buying an additional 31,255,726 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Lam Research by 907.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,428,010 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,265,610,000 after buying an additional 28,307,499 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at $1,661,672,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.