Midwest Professional Planners LTD. Acquires 46,993 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. boosted its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 928.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,055 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,993 shares during the period. Lam Research accounts for 1.1% of Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $3,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Cypress Capital Group increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 3,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,987,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 58.3% in the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 364 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. West Oak Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 50.9% during the fourth 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 period. Baldwin Investment Management LLC raised its position in Lam Research by 1.4% during the third quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 10,249 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,364,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC increased its position in Lam Research by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,272,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lam Research

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $9,907,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on LRCX shares. Mizuho increased their target price on Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wolfe Research lowered Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.22.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Shares of LRCX stock opened at $75.26 on Friday. Lam Research Co. has a 12-month low of $68.87 and a 12-month high of $113.00. The company has a market cap of $96.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.44. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.96%.

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.