Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Purchased by Cigna Investments Inc. New

Cigna Investments Inc. New increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 880.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 13,226 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 11,877 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Lam Research by 1,394.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,081,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,123,440,000 after acquiring an additional 15,005,178 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Lam Research by 1,488.8% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,069,002 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $221,674,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875,843 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Lam Research by 827.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,160,523 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $228,285,000 after purchasing an additional 2,819,668 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Lam Research during the fourth quarter worth about $175,652,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Lam Research by 904.7% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,371,062 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $99,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234,595 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lam Research Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $83.73 on Tuesday. 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 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $113.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $76.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.06.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on LRCX. 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. 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. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Lam Research to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.72.

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.