Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $97.24.

LRCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Lam Research from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on Lam Research from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of LRCX opened at $71.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.53. Lam Research has a fifty-two week low of $68.87 and a fifty-two week high of $113.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.72. The company has a market capitalization of $92.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.46.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.05. Lam Research had a return on equity of 50.60% and a net margin of 26.02%. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lam Research will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.77%.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total value of $528,928.97. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,267 shares in the company, valued at $3,488,315.17. The trade was a 13.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. Lantz Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the 2nd quarter worth about $212,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky increased its holdings in Lam Research by 41.9% in the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 220 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lam Research during the second quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Lam Research by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 371 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 8,387 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,931,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

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.