Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Trading 0.5% Higher – Still a Buy?

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)’s share price was up 0.5% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $70.76 and last traded at $70.41. Approximately 2,535,676 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 11,222,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.05.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LRCX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Lam Research from $81.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. B. Riley dropped their price target on Lam Research from $132.50 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BNP Paribas upgraded Lam Research to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com cut Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Lam Research from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.03.

Lam Research Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $90.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.70.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.06 billion. Lam Research had a return on equity of 50.60% and a net margin of 26.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.85 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 represents a 13.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. RFP Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Lam Research by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 35 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lam Research during the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Country Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research in the second quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the second quarter worth about $45,000. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by 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.