Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $76.15, but opened at $78.89. Lam Research shares last traded at $79.23, with a volume of 1,620,426 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on LRCX shares. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $83.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research cut shares of Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (down from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.59.

Lam Research Trading Up 5.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.53. The company has a market capitalization of $103.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.95, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.22.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.06 billion. Lam Research had a return on equity of 50.60% and a net margin of 26.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.85 EPS. Research analysts predict that Lam Research Co. will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Lam Research by 1,394.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,081,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,123,440,000 after purchasing an additional 15,005,178 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Lam Research by 1.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,886,676 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,817,113,000 after purchasing an additional 94,086 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,120,511 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,539,413,000 after buying an additional 64,053 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research during the 4th quarter worth approximately $175,652,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,871,473 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,527,273,000 after buying an additional 11,093 shares in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.