Homestead Advisers Corp Buys 1,022,900 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Homestead Advisers Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 939.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,131,800 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,022,900 shares during the period. Lam Research accounts for about 2.0% of Homestead Advisers Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Homestead Advisers Corp owned about 0.09% of Lam Research worth $81,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $566,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Lam Research during the third quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the 3rd quarter worth about $486,000. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new position in Lam Research during the 3rd quarter valued at about $267,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in Lam Research by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 124,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $101,472,000 after acquiring an additional 5,951 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lam Research Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX opened at $76.14 on Thursday. Lam Research Co. has a 12-month low of $68.87 and a 12-month high of $113.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.33. The company has a market cap of $97.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. 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 (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted 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 return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. On average, research analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 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. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on LRCX. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lam Research currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.06.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

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

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.