Kentucky Retirement Systems Lowers Stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 7.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 769 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Lam Research were worth $7,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Lam Research by 1,394.7% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,081,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,123,440,000 after buying an additional 15,005,178 shares in the last quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 994.1% during the third quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 232,901 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $190,066,000 after acquiring an additional 211,614 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $192,668,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,959,151 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,875,023,000 after purchasing an additional 142,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis grew its position in Lam Research by 1,267.1% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 142,967 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $138,902,000 after purchasing an additional 132,509 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LRCX shares. BNP Paribas raised shares of Lam Research to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Lam Research from $81.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Lam Research from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Lam Research from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lam Research has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total transaction of $528,928.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,488,315.17. This represents a 13.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lam Research Price Performance

NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $70.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Lam Research Co. has a 52 week low of $68.72 and a 52 week high of $113.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $77.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.48.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.05. Lam Research had a return on equity of 50.60% and a net margin of 26.02%. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

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.