Metis Global Partners LLC Trims Stake in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Metis Global Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,021 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 612 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Lam Research were worth $4,716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Whale Capital LLP increased its stake in Lam Research by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Whale Capital LLP now owns 112,300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $70,386,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 491 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Lam Research by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,073 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,190,000 after buying an additional 1,440 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC raised its position in Lam Research by 32,411.1% during the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 14,630 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,459,000 after buying an additional 14,585 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lam Research during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,930,000. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James increased their price target on Lam Research from $850.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. B. Riley raised shares of Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $870.00 to $1,100.00 in a report on Friday, April 19th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Lam Research in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $1,200.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Lam Research from $975.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lam Research presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $950.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.41, for a total transaction of $5,073,255.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 22,095 shares in the company, valued at $20,380,648.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $922.41, for a total transaction of $5,073,255.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 22,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,380,648.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider George M. Schisler sold 400 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $908.21, for a total value of $363,284.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,661 shares in the company, valued at $5,141,376.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,489 shares of company stock valued at $6,978,065. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX traded up $16.01 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $924.54. The stock had a trading volume of 576,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,061,636. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $941.31 and a 200-day moving average of $820.25. The firm has a market cap of $120.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.04, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.82, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Lam Research Co. has a fifty-two week low of $512.09 and a fifty-two week high of $1,007.39.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The semiconductor company reported $7.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.26 by $0.53. Lam Research had a net margin of 25.35% and a return on equity of 45.96%. The business had revenue of $3.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 29.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $2.00 dividend. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.42%.

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.