Everence Capital Management Inc. Buys 1,440 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 54.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $3,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lam Research in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lam Research during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 56.7% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 47 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the third quarter worth about $30,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lam Research Stock Performance

LRCX traded up $17.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $963.23. 537,366 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,017,665. Lam Research Co. has a 1-year low of $482.74 and a 1-year high of $1,007.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.06, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $941.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $794.36.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The semiconductor company reported $7.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.06 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Lam Research had a return on equity of 44.47% and a net margin of 24.15%. Lam Research’s revenue for the quarter was down 28.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 28.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $2.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $8.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 30.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Lam Research from $800.00 to $975.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $900.00 to $935.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Lam Research from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Lam Research from $700.00 to $912.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Lam Research from $930.00 to $980.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $875.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lam Research

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.41, for a total transaction of $5,073,255.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 22,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,380,648.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Lam Research news, Director Abhijit Y. Talwalkar sold 882 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 10,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,246,168.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 5,500 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.41, for a total value of $5,073,255.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 22,095 shares in the company, valued at $20,380,648.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,029 shares of company stock valued at $6,559,489. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.