Lam Research Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 16,299 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 39% compared to the typical volume of 11,764 call options.

Insider Activity

In other Lam Research news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total value of $1,712,323.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,237 shares in the company, valued at $5,535,456.63. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,062.26, for a total transaction of $687,282.22. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,219,945.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total value of $1,712,323.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,535,456.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,917 shares of company stock worth $12,728,870. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Symmetry Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,229,000. Cypress Capital Group lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 23.1% in the second quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 3,528 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,757,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lam Research by 29.4% during the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,022 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,218,000 after buying an additional 686 shares during the period. Tairen Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Lam Research by 199.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 163,605 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $174,215,000 after acquiring an additional 108,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Albar Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Lam Research during the second quarter worth $3,123,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Lam Research from $1,250.00 to $1,150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Lam Research from $990.00 to $893.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $1,050.00 to $950.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Lam Research from $1,000.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,012.84.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of LRCX traded up $29.79 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $833.54. The company had a trading volume of 804,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,097,562. The company’s 50-day moving average is $821.73 and its 200-day moving average is $921.66. Lam Research has a twelve month low of $574.42 and a twelve month high of $1,130.00. The company has a market capitalization of $108.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.00.

Shares of Lam Research are scheduled to split on Thursday, October 3rd. The 10-1 split was announced on Tuesday, May 21st. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $8.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.58 by $0.56. Lam Research had a net margin of 25.68% and a return on equity of 48.71%. The firm had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lam Research will post 35.2 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.30 per share. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This is a positive change from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. Lam Research’s payout ratio is currently 33.84%.

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.