Choate Investment Advisors Acquires 11,780 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Choate Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 964.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,002 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,780 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Lam Research were worth $939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Financial Perspectives Inc raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 908.8% in the fourth quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 343 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 340 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 836.6% in the fourth quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 384 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX opened at $78.69 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $101.01 billion, a PE ratio of 23.90, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a fifty day moving average of $79.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.39. Lam Research Co. has a 52-week low of $68.87 and a 52-week high of $113.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.54.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is 27.96%.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective 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. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.22.

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.