Nicholas Company Inc. Raises Position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Nicholas Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 900.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 442,550 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 398,295 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Company Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $31,965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 652.9% in the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 8,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 7,241 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 4th quarter worth $815,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% in the 4th quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 238,275 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $194,451,000 after buying an additional 39,725 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 51.9% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 215,420 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $175,800,000 after buying an additional 73,648 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Stock Up 4.6 %

NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $78.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $101.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. Lam Research Co. has a one year low of $68.87 and a one year high of $113.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.42. 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 released its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on LRCX. Mizuho raised their price objective on Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wolfe Research lowered Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lam Research has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.