Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $96.59.

Several research firms have issued reports on LRCX. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th.

Lam Research Stock Performance

NASDAQ LRCX opened at $76.15 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Lam Research has a twelve month low of $68.87 and a twelve month high of $113.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.22.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.05. Lam Research had a return on equity of 50.60% and a net margin of 26.02%. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.85 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Lam Research will post 3.5 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.77%.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 175.0% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 88 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. NCP Inc. bought a new position in Lam Research in the 2nd quarter valued at about $213,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in Lam Research by 2,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Lam Research during the 2nd quarter valued at about $226,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Lam Research during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $228,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

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.