Northwest Bancshares Inc. Reduces Stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. reduced its stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,294 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 710 shares during the quarter. Lam Research makes up approximately 1.0% of Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $5,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Lam Research by 1,394.7% in 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 grew its holdings in Lam Research by 994.1% in the 3rd quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 232,901 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $190,066,000 after buying an additional 211,614 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the 1st quarter valued at $192,668,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 142,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Lam Research by 208.2% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 175,616 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $187,005,000 after buying an additional 118,634 shares in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on LRCX shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on Lam Research from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Lam Research from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen increased their price target on Lam Research from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup lowered their price target on Lam Research from $99.00 to $89.30 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.03.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX opened at $70.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.53. Lam Research Co. has a fifty-two week low of $68.72 and a fifty-two week high of $113.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.29 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.70.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total transaction of $528,928.97. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,267 shares in the company, valued at $3,488,315.17. This trade represents a 13.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lam Research Company 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.