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

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $96.59.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho reduced their target price on Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Lam Research from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Lam Research to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

Lam Research Stock Performance

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $76.15 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $74.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.22. The firm has a market cap of $97.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Lam Research has a 1 year low of $68.87 and a 1 year high of $113.00.

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

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 29.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 652.9% during the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 8,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,241 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at about $815,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 20.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 238,275 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $194,451,000 after buying an additional 39,725 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Lam Research by 2.5% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 47,377 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $38,664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,146 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in Lam Research by 68.7% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 35,991 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,372,000 after acquiring an additional 14,658 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

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.