Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 16,299 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 39% compared to the typical volume of 11,764 call options.

Lam Research Price Performance

LRCX stock opened at $827.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $108.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.48. Lam Research has a 52-week low of $574.42 and a 52-week high of $1,130.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $819.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $921.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.97.

Shares of Lam Research are set to split before the market opens on Thursday, October 3rd. The 10-1 split was announced on Tuesday, May 21st. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $8.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.58 by $0.56. Lam Research had a return on equity of 48.71% and a net margin of 25.68%. The business had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.98 EPS. Lam Research’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Lam Research will post 35.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $2.30 per share. This is a positive change from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.84%.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total value of $1,712,323.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,535,456.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Lam Research news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,062.26, for a total transaction of $687,282.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,219,945.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total transaction of $1,712,323.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 5,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,535,456.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Symmetry Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,229,000. Cypress Capital Group grew its stake in Lam Research by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 3,528 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,757,000 after purchasing an additional 661 shares during the period. Albar Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,123,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 29.4% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,022 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,218,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tairen Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 199.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tairen Capital Ltd now owns 163,605 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $174,215,000 after buying an additional 108,973 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LRCX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Lam Research from $1,100.00 to $950.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group cut their target price on Lam Research from $1,250.00 to $1,150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,200.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Lam Research from $1,100.00 to $1,000.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $1,130.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,012.84.

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.