Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) gapped down before the market opened on Monday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $929.00 to $774.00. The stock had previously closed at $769.72, but opened at $751.46. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Lam Research shares last traded at $750.40, with a volume of 32,810 shares.

LRCX has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on Lam Research from $990.00 to $893.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Raymond James boosted their target price on Lam Research from $950.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Lam Research from $1,100.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. B. Riley boosted their price target on Lam Research from $1,130.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Lam Research from $865.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,013.37.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 4,409 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,055.76, for a total value of $4,654,845.84. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,239,346.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Lam Research news, CEO Timothy Archer sold 9,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,070.39, for a total transaction of $10,329,263.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,596,739.21. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 4,409 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,055.76, for a total value of $4,654,845.84. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,857 shares in the company, valued at $7,239,346.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,326 shares of company stock worth $17,383,715 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lam Research

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,856,661 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,519,576,000 after purchasing an additional 144,914 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,973,516 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,329,037,000 after purchasing an additional 86,721 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,959,151 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,875,023,000 after purchasing an additional 142,903 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,254,188 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,335,522,000 after purchasing an additional 89,470 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,075,893 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,145,664,000 after purchasing an additional 107,778 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lam Research Trading Up 1.1 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $855.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $929.39. The company has a market cap of $101.26 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Lam Research’s stock is going to split on the morning of Thursday, October 3rd. The 10-1 split was announced on Tuesday, May 21st. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Wednesday, October 2nd.

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

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The business 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 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 33.84%.

Lam Research declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to buy up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.