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

Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) traded up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $70.76 and last traded at $70.41. 2,535,676 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 11,222,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on LRCX shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Lam Research from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Lam Research from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price (down from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Lam Research to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lam Research presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Lam Research Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $77.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.95. The company has a market cap of $90.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G 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.

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

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total value of $528,928.97. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,488,315.17. This represents a 13.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 27.5% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,852,000 after acquiring an additional 2,074 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,120,511 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,539,413,000 after acquiring an additional 64,053 shares during the period. Savoie Capital LLC increased its holdings in Lam Research by 12.2% during the third quarter. Savoie Capital LLC now owns 8,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,757,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC increased its holdings in Lam Research by 667.4% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,563 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,092,000 after buying an additional 2,229 shares during the period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in Lam Research by 7.8% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 24,921 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 1,810 shares during the period. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lam Research Company Profile

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.