Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Short Interest Down 17.3% in July

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) was the target of a large decline in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,100,000 shares, a decline of 17.3% from the July 15th total of 2,540,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,090,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LRCX has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $865.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Lam Research from $1,000.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Lam Research from $900.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Lam Research from $1,100.00 to $950.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Lam Research from $880.00 to $850.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lam Research has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,006.10.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LRCX opened at $871.14 on Friday. Lam Research has a 1 year low of $574.42 and a 1 year high of $1,130.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is $972.25 and its 200 day moving average is $945.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Lam Research’s stock is scheduled 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 market closes on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $8.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.58 by $0.56. Lam Research had a net margin of 25.68% and a return on equity of 48.71%. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lam Research will post 35.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 21st that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total value of $1,712,323.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,535,456.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 4,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,219,945.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total value of $1,712,323.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 5,237 shares in the company, valued at $5,535,456.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,326 shares of company stock worth $17,383,715 in the last ninety days. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Partnership Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Lam Research in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. RFP Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Lam Research by 52.2% during the second quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 35 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.