Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Boosts Position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 136.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,102 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 636 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $1,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 88.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 10,042 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,693,000 after purchasing an additional 4,711 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Lam Research by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 614,205 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $654,009,000 after acquiring an additional 25,362 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,254,188 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,335,522,000 after acquiring an additional 89,470 shares during the period. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Lam Research by 15.6% in the second quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 244 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Lam Research by 9.1% in the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 5,375 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,724,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LRCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Lam Research from $1,250.00 to $1,150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $1,100.00 to $950.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Lam Research from $1,130.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Lam Research from $990.00 to $893.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,013.37.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy Archer sold 9,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $90,596,739.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Lam Research news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 4,409 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,055.76, for a total value of $4,654,845.84. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,857 shares in the company, valued at $7,239,346.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy Archer sold 9,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,596,739.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,326 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,715 in the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Shares of LRCX stock opened at $766.04 on Wednesday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $855.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $929.39. Lam Research Co. has a 52 week low of $574.42 and a 52 week high of $1,130.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.48.

Shares of Lam Research are going 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 payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Wednesday, October 2nd.

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

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is an increase from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Lam Research’s payout ratio is currently 33.84%.

Lam Research declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 21st that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 8.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.