Ascent Group LLC Sells 185 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Ascent Group LLC decreased its position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 47.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 207 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 185 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Symmetry Investments LP acquired a new position in Lam Research in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,229,000. Cypress Capital Group grew its stake in shares of Lam Research by 23.1% in the second quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 3,528 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,757,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Albar Capital Ltd bought a new position in Lam Research during the second quarter worth about $3,123,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Lam Research by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,022 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,218,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 199.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 163,605 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $174,215,000 after purchasing an additional 108,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $797.38 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $104.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.48. Lam Research Co. has a twelve month low of $574.42 and a twelve month high of $1,130.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business’s fifty day moving average is $811.37 and its 200 day moving average is $918.60.

Lam Research shares are scheduled to split on the morning of Thursday, October 3rd. The 10-1 split was announced on Tuesday, May 21st. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Wednesday, October 2nd.

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

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $2.30 per share. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. This is a positive change from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 33.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lam Research news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total value of $1,712,323.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,535,456.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on LRCX shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Lam Research from $865.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Lam Research from $990.00 to $893.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Lam Research from $1,050.00 to $950.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $1,130.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $1,250.00 to $1,150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lam Research has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,002.32.

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.