Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Stock Jumps 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) shot up 1.4% on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $237.28 and last traded at $230.72. 10,117,133 shares were traded during mid-day 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

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore set a $315.00 price target on Lam Research in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up from $340.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Fundamental Research set a $390.00 price objective on Lam Research in a report on Thursday, October 1st. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, B. Riley Financial upped their target price on shares of Lam Research from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $360.23.

Lam Research Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $288.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.38, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 1.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $292.74 and a 200 day moving average of $283.84.

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

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 23rd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Lam Research’s payout ratio is presently 19.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ava Harter sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 42,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,843,056.52. This represents a 10.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bethany Mayer sold 9,557 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 20,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,607,966.30. The trade was a 31.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 2.6% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased 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 raised its holdings 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 during the period. Amundi raised its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Lam Research by 2.0% in the first 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Company Profile

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.