Investors Purchase Large Volume of Lam Research Call Options (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 48,997 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 16% compared to the typical daily volume of 42,219 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on LRCX shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Lam Research from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Lam Research from $132.50 to $105.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.72.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of LRCX stock traded down $0.86 on Monday, hitting $80.19. 14,509,789 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,051,917. The firm has a market cap of $103.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.36, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.46. Lam Research has a 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $113.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.73.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 51.86%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lam Research will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Lam Research's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.95%.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Lam Research by 175.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 88 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. NCP Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 2nd quarter worth $213,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Lam Research by 2,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 2nd quarter worth $256,000. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 3rd quarter worth $202,000. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.