Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 14,455 Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 437.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 17,756 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,455 shares during the quarter. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $1,283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Lam Research during the 4th quarter worth about $108,000. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Lam Research by 1,170.7% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 528,520 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $38,175,000 after buying an additional 486,927 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its stake in Lam Research by 371.7% during the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 8,594 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 6,772 shares during the period. Darden Wealth Group Inc raised its holdings in Lam Research by 935.0% in the 4th quarter. Darden Wealth Group Inc now owns 7,690 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $555,000 after acquiring an additional 6,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Himension Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 10,671.3% in the 4th quarter. Himension Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. now owns 112,345 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,115,000 after acquiring an additional 111,302 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lam Research Trading Down 9.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX opened at $59.09 on Friday. Lam Research Co. has a 1-year low of $57.97 and a 1-year high of $113.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $78.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.07. The company has a market cap of $75.85 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is 27.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LRCX shares. KeyCorp upgraded Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Susquehanna raised shares of Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.59.

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.