Sentry Investment Management LLC Acquires 4,826 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 760.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,461 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,826 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Perspectives Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 908.8% during the 4th quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 343 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lam Research during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. West Oak Capital LLC grew its holdings in Lam Research by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Country Trust Bank increased its stake in Lam Research by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $9,907,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares in the company, valued at $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp upgraded Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.22.

Lam Research Stock Performance

LRCX stock opened at $83.34 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $78.57 and a 200-day moving average of $78.10. The firm has a market cap of $106.98 billion, a PE ratio of 25.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.46. Lam Research Co. has a 12-month low of $68.87 and a 12-month high of $113.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 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.