Short Interest in Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Declines By 14.4%

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) saw a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,200,000 shares, a drop of 14.4% from the August 31st total of 2,570,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LRCX. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Lam Research from $1,130.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Lam Research from $1,000.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group reduced their target price on Lam Research from $1,250.00 to $1,150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on Lam Research from $865.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $929.00 to $774.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,012.84.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In related news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total value of $1,712,323.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,237 shares in the company, valued at $5,535,456.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. RFP Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Lam Research by 52.2% during the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 35 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Country Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the 2nd quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the second quarter worth $45,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lam Research Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of LRCX stock opened at $827.12 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.48. Lam Research has a twelve month low of $574.42 and a twelve month high of $1,130.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $817.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $920.16.

Lam Research shares are going to split on the morning of Thursday, October 3rd. The 10-1 split was announced on Tuesday, May 21st. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $8.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.58 by $0.56. Lam Research had a return on equity of 48.71% and a net margin of 25.68%. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lam Research will post 35.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $2.30 dividend. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. This is an increase from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.84%.

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.