Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Stock Price Up 2.5% - What's Next?

Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) were up 2.5% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $76.79 and last traded at $75.99. Approximately 2,083,493 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 11,234,760 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.17.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LRCX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on Lam Research from $99.00 to $89.30 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lam Research from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Lam Research from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group lowered their price target on Lam Research from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Lam Research from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lam Research presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $97.03.

Lam Research Stock Up 3.0 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $77.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.48.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.85 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Lam Research's dividend payout ratio is 29.74%.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In other news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total value of $528,928.97. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,267 shares in the company, valued at $3,488,315.17. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aigen Investment Management LP increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 115.0% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 2,161 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 58.3% during the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 364 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 9.0% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 340,855 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $278,165,000 after buying an additional 28,089 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 132.1% during the third quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 889 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $743,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in Lam Research by 471.8% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 2,659 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company's stock.

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.