Morgan Stanley Lowers Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Price Target to $774.00

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $929.00 to $774.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the semiconductor company's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price would suggest a potential upside of 1.04% from the company's previous close.

LRCX has been the subject of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $1,130.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen increased their target price on Lam Research from $1,000.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays raised their target price on Lam Research from $865.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $1,100.00 to $950.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of Lam Research from $1,130.00 to $1,325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $1,013.37.

Lam Research Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of LRCX stock traded up $9.84 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $766.04. 931,996 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,087,552. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $855.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $929.39. Lam Research has a fifty-two week low of $574.42 and a fifty-two week high of $1,130.00. The stock has a market cap of $100.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Lam Research's stock is scheduled to split on Thursday, October 3rd. The 10-1 split was announced on Tuesday, May 21st. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $8.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.58 by $0.56. Lam Research had a return on equity of 48.71% and a net margin of 25.68%. The firm had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.98 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Lam Research will post 35.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 21st that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 4,409 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,055.76, for a total transaction of $4,654,845.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,857 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,239,346.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 4,409 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,055.76, for a total transaction of $4,654,845.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,857 shares in the company, valued at $7,239,346.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy Archer sold 9,650 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,070.39, for a total transaction of $10,329,263.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,639 shares in the company, valued at $90,596,739.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,326 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,715. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the 1st quarter worth about $192,668,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Lam Research by 24.6% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 968,115 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $940,592,000 after purchasing an additional 191,230 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lam Research by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,856,661 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $11,519,576,000 after purchasing an additional 144,914 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Lam Research by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,959,151 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,875,023,000 after purchasing an additional 142,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis boosted its stake in Lam Research by 1,267.1% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 142,967 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $138,902,000 after purchasing an additional 132,509 shares in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.