Avalon Investment & Advisory Lowers Position in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Avalon Investment & Advisory trimmed its holdings in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 2.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 224,749 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 5,608 shares during the quarter. Lam Research comprises about 3.3% of Avalon Investment & Advisory’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Avalon Investment & Advisory owned approximately 0.17% of Lam Research worth $119,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LRCX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Lam Research by 117,180.9% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,822,222 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,795,180,000 after acquiring an additional 32,794,236 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Lam Research by 1,018.4% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,507,601 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $169,077,000 after acquiring an additional 3,193,985 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Lam Research by 507.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,389,485 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,424,601,000 after buying an additional 2,831,381 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in Lam Research in the 1st quarter valued at about $913,330,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Lam Research in the 4th quarter valued at about $619,226,000. 84.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on LRCX. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Lam Research from $520.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Lam Research from $620.00 to $650.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $500.00 to $550.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $695.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $540.00 to $615.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Six investment 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.79.

Lam Research Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX traded down $7.82 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $668.88. The stock had a trading volume of 902,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 900,855. The firm has a market cap of $88.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.49. Lam Research Co. has a twelve month low of $299.59 and a twelve month high of $726.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 3.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $665.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $586.48.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The semiconductor company reported $5.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.95. The firm had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.13 billion. Lam Research had a net margin of 25.88% and a return on equity of 57.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 26.75 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 13th will be given a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 12th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.16%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.82%.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In other news, Director Abhijit Y. Talwalkar sold 882 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $642.86, for a total value of $567,002.52. Following the transaction, the director now owns 12,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,356,537.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Vahid Vahedi sold 13,756 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $717.46, for a total value of $9,869,379.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 26,483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,000,493.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Abhijit Y. Talwalkar sold 882 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction on Monday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $642.86, for a total transaction of $567,002.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 12,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,356,537.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,159 shares of company stock worth $12,926,580. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research 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.