Meridiem Capital Partners LP Invests $21.74 Million in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Meridiem Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 300,940 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $21,737,000. Lam Research accounts for about 1.9% of Meridiem Capital Partners LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Lam Research by 892.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,787,727 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $8,724,498,000 after purchasing an additional 108,619,564 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Lam Research by 1,032.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,031,194 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,891,453,000 after buying an additional 36,496,689 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 950.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,543,915 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,495,128,000 after buying an additional 31,255,726 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Lam Research by 907.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,428,010 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,265,610,000 after buying an additional 28,307,499 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the 4th quarter worth about $1,661,672,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on LRCX. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Lam Research from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Lam Research from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Lam Research from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $70.00 price objective on Lam Research and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lam Research presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $91.56.

Lam Research Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LRCX traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $84.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,088,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,283,580. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.54. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $72.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.64. Lam Research Co. has a fifty-two week low of $56.32 and a fifty-two week high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.79 EPS. The company's revenue was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,117,560. This represents a 38.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.