Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Stock Price Up 1.4% – Here’s Why

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) traded up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The company traded as high as $237.28 and last traded at $230.72. 10,117,133 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 6% from the average session volume of 10,775,396 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.56.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LRCX. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $340.00) on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, July 9th. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on Lam Research from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price target on shares of Lam Research and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Twenty-six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $360.23.

Lam Research Trading Up 1.4%

The stock has a market cap of $288.21 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $292.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $283.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 1.86.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The semiconductor company reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.02. Lam Research had a return on equity of 72.15% and a net margin of 32.34%. The company had revenue of $8.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 54.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lam Research Corporation will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a positive change from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 23rd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is currently 19.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ava Harter sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.46, for a total value of $1,512,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,843,056.52. This trade represents a 10.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bethany Mayer sold 9,557 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.74, for a total transaction of $3,007,970.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,995 shares in the company, valued at $6,607,966.30. This represents a 31.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Lam Research by 2.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,704,130 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,320,468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,545,830 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,244,147 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,872,426,000 after purchasing an additional 584,489 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Lam Research by 411.8% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,089,395 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,805,368,000 after buying an additional 8,922,854 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Lam Research by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 10,147,479 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,168,107,000 after buying an additional 1,942,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Lam Research by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,265,026 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,975,244,000 after buying an additional 181,087 shares in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Lam Research

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) is a semiconductor equipment company that develops and manufactures systems used to fabricate integrated circuits. Its technologies support key stages of wafer processing, helping semiconductor manufacturers create the increasingly complex structures found in memory, logic and other types of chips.

The company’s product portfolio includes etch systems, which selectively remove materials from wafers; deposition systems, which apply thin films; and cleaning solutions used to remove contaminants and residue during manufacturing.