Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Raised to "Outperform" at Sanford C. Bernstein

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $91.00 price objective on the semiconductor company's stock, up from their prior price objective of $85.00. Sanford C. Bernstein's price target points to a potential upside of 12.69% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Lam Research to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Lam Research from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 price target (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.72.

Lam Research Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LRCX traded up $5.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $80.75. The stock had a trading volume of 20,383,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,378,549. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $75.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.93. The stock has a market cap of $103.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.53. Lam Research has a twelve month low of $68.87 and a twelve month high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.02% and a return on equity of 50.60%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lam Research will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Lam Research by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 970 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 873 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,076,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Lam Research by 916.4% during the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 17,798 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 16,047 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 903.7% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 3,764 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 3,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 15,870 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,146,000 after buying an additional 14,283 shares during the period. 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.