Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $76.15, but opened at $78.89. Lam Research shares last traded at $79.23, with a volume of 1,620,426 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LRCX shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp raised shares of Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research downgraded Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho cut their price target on Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.77.

Lam Research Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.68 and a 200 day moving average of $80.99. 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 market capitalization of $103.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.45.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.06 billion. Lam Research had a return on equity of 50.60% and a net margin of 26.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.85 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Lam Research by 1,394.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,081,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,123,440,000 after buying an additional 15,005,178 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Lam Research in the fourth quarter worth about $175,652,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in Lam Research during the 4th quarter worth about $35,253,000. Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its position in Lam Research by 1,129.8% during the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 482,156 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $34,825,000 after purchasing an additional 442,949 shares during the period. Finally, ARS Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 908.9% in the 4th quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 490,881 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,456,000 after purchasing an additional 442,224 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

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.