Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $91.56.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LRCX shares. Argus upgraded shares of Lam Research to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wolfe Research lowered Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Lam Research from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Lam Research from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th.

Lam Research Stock Up 3.9 %

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $74.52 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.14. Lam Research has a one year low of $56.32 and a one year high of $113.00. The firm has a market cap of $95.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.73.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. The company had revenue of $4.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $7.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lam Research will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s payout ratio is presently 25.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $9,907,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. This represents a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lam Research

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Parisi Gray Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 652.9% during the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 8,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 7,241 shares in the last quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY bought a new position in shares of Lam Research during the 4th quarter worth approximately $815,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Transform Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter worth $17,269,000. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB acquired a new position in Lam Research during the fourth quarter worth $4,258,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.