Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Stock Price Up 2.7% – Here’s Why

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) shot up 2.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $232.90 and last traded at $228.39. 12,383,300 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 14,469,357 shares. The stock had previously closed at $222.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LRCX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Oppenheimer set a $200.00 target price on Lam Research and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $260.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Twenty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $196.33.

Lam Research Trading Up 2.7%

The business’s fifty day moving average is $174.00 and its 200-day moving average is $139.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 2.21. The firm has a market cap of $286.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.77.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The semiconductor company reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.23 billion. Lam Research had a net margin of 29.66% and a return on equity of 60.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. Analysts predict that Lam Research Corporation will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Douglas R. Bettinger sold 40,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.60, for a total transaction of $6,036,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 987,237 shares in the company, valued at $148,677,892.20. This trade represents a 3.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ava Harter sold 9,010 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.47, for a total value of $1,418,804.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 56,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,942,091.42. This represents a 13.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 50,418 shares of company stock valued at $7,667,305 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sava Infond d.o.o. boosted its stake in Lam Research by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. now owns 75,250 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in Lam Research by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 144,656 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $19,369,000 after purchasing an additional 34,147 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN bought a new stake in Lam Research during the 2nd quarter valued at about $389,000. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 34.4% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 31,922 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after buying an additional 8,172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Genus Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the second quarter valued at approximately $14,476,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

About Lam Research

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) is a global supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry. Founded in 1980 by David K. Lam and headquartered in Fremont, California, the company develops and manufactures systems used in multiple stages of semiconductor device production, including thin film deposition, plasma etch, wafer cleaning and related process modules and automation.

Lam’s product portfolio covers core process technologies employed by logic and memory manufacturers, with equipment designed to support advanced-node patterning, 3D NAND and other emerging device architectures.