Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 85,102 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 776,885 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,102 shares during the quarter. Lam Research makes up 1.1% of Van ECK Associates Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $608,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. Blue Whale Capital LLP boosted its stake in Lam Research by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 112,300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $70,386,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 54.7% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 32,411.1% during the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 14,630 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,459,000 after purchasing an additional 14,585 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,930,000. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 0.9% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 63,809 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,994,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on LRCX shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Lam Research from $975.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley raised Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $870.00 to $1,100.00 in a research note on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $700.00 to $912.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $1,030.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Lam Research from $950.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $950.85.

Lam Research Price Performance

LRCX stock traded up $3.44 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $928.81. 902,186 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,073,179. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.82 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.77 billion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.51. Lam Research Co. has a 52 week low of $507.19 and a 52 week high of $1,007.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $943.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $811.51.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The semiconductor company reported $7.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.26 by $0.53. Lam Research had a return on equity of 45.96% and a net margin of 25.35%. The company had revenue of $3.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $2.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $8.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Christina Corrreia sold 647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $972.03, for a total transaction of $628,903.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,386,018.23. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Lam Research news, Director Abhijit Y. Talwalkar sold 882 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $972.03, for a total transaction of $857,330.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,246,168.23. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Christina Corrreia sold 647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $972.03, for a total transaction of $628,903.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,541 shares in the company, valued at $5,386,018.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,029 shares of company stock valued at $6,559,489 over the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.