Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 68 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,567 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $1,669,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,414,111,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Lam Research during the 1st quarter valued at $192,668,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 24.6% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 968,115 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $940,592,000 after acquiring an additional 191,230 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,856,661 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $11,519,576,000 after acquiring an additional 144,914 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,959,151 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,875,023,000 after acquiring an additional 142,903 shares in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LRCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $1,130.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Lam Research from $1,100.00 to $950.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Lam Research from $1,025.00 to $990.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Lam Research in a report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $1,100.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,006.10.

Lam Research Trading Up 3.0 %

LRCX stock opened at $821.01 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Lam Research Co. has a 52-week low of $574.42 and a 52-week high of $1,130.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $929.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $943.74. The firm has a market cap of $107.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.20, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.48.

Lam Research shares are set to split before the market opens on Thursday, October 3rd. The 10-1 split was announced on Tuesday, May 21st. The newly minted shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $8.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.58 by $0.56. Lam Research had a return on equity of 48.71% and a net margin of 25.68%. The business had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 35.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a $2.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This is a positive change from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.84%.

Lam Research declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 21st that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy Archer sold 9,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,070.39, for a total value of $10,329,263.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,639 shares in the company, valued at $90,596,739.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Lam Research news, CEO Timothy Archer sold 9,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,070.39, for a total value of $10,329,263.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,596,739.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 4,409 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,055.76, for a total transaction of $4,654,845.84. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,239,346.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 16,326 shares of company stock worth $17,383,715. 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.