Kentucky Retirement Systems Makes New Investment in Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems acquired a new stake in Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 87,792 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $6,382,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 843.4% in the 4th quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 3,576 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 1,032.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,189 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 12,936 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 695.2% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,117 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 240.4% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 6,457 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 4,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 763.5% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 55,037 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $3,975,000 after purchasing an additional 48,663 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX traded down $1.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $90.49. 22,922,800 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,306,003. The company has a market cap of $115.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.65. Lam Research Corporation has a 1 year low of $56.32 and a 1 year high of $113.00. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $79.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 53.21% and a net margin of 27.18%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.79 earnings per share. Lam Research's quarterly revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lam Research Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th will be given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Lam Research's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LRCX. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Lam Research from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Lam Research from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 price objective (up from $95.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Wednesday. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lam Research presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $92.78.

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.