Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Stock Price Up 1.1% – Should You Buy?

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)’s share price traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $77.50 and last traded at $77.21. 3,009,483 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 10,982,218 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.36.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LRCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Lam Research from $1,000.00 to $880.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Lam Research from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Lam Research from $92.90 to $77.40 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.28.

Lam Research Stock Down 2.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a PE ratio of 2.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $95.12 and a 200 day moving average of $95.99.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.05. 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Lam Research’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total value of $528,928.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,267 shares in the company, valued at $3,488,315.17. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lam Research

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 98.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 39,781 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $31,159,000 after buying an additional 19,742 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 220.8% in the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,235 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after buying an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $121,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Lam Research during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,077,000. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.