Busey Bank Increases Stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Busey Bank increased its holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 899.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,255 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,329 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Affirmative Financial Network increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 955.7% in the fourth quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 6,503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 5,887 shares during the period. Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Lam Research by 114.1% in the 4th quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 22,394 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 11,934 shares during the period. Gries Financial LLC lifted its position in Lam Research by 886.9% in the fourth quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 11,034 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $797,000 after purchasing an additional 9,916 shares during the last quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 832.4% during the fourth quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 17,250 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,246,000 after purchasing an additional 15,400 shares during the period. Finally, Milestone Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 2,626.4% in the fourth quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 76,885 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,553,000 after purchasing an additional 74,065 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $80.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $103.87 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $75.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.93. Lam Research Co. has a 1-year low of $68.87 and a 1-year high of $113.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued 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 net margin of 26.02% and a return on equity of 50.60%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LRCX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley lowered their price target on Lam Research from $132.50 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp upgraded Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.72.

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.