Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on LRCX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a hold rating and a $1,000.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $900.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $930.00 to $980.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $825.00 to $865.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $975.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $950.85.

Lam Research Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $925.37 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $943.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $811.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.82 and a quick ratio of 2.02. Lam Research has a one year low of $493.42 and a one year high of $1,007.39. The company has a market cap of $121.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.03, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.51.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The semiconductor company reported $7.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.26 by $0.53. Lam Research had a net margin of 25.35% and a return on equity of 45.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Lam Research will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $2.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $8.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $922.41, for a total transaction of $5,073,255.00. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Abhijit Y. Talwalkar sold 882 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $972.03, for a total value of $857,330.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,246,168.23. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 18th. The shares were 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 directly owns 22,095 shares in the company, valued at $20,380,648.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,029 shares of company stock worth $6,559,489. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 182 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 613 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Van Leeuwen & Company LLC boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Van Leeuwen & Company LLC now owns 2,583 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,023,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 1.5% during the first quarter. Busey Bank now owns 869 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $844,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 2.5% during the first quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 525 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $510,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.