First Merchants Corp Boosts Stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

First Merchants Corp boosted its position in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 932.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 181,406 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 163,829 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $13,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Creative Planning increased its position in Lam Research by 2.5% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 47,377 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $38,664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew its stake in shares of Lam Research by 469.4% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 279 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 2,500.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 442 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Carderock Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Carderock Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,192 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,134,000 after buying an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greater Midwest Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,644,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Lam Research from $132.50 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho cut their target price on Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.72.

Lam Research Stock Performance

LRCX stock opened at $83.30 on Friday. Lam Research Co. has a 1-year low of $68.87 and a 1-year high of $113.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.92. The company has a market capitalization of $106.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.30, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.73.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 51.86%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

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.