Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Stock Price Down 4% – What’s Next?

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX)’s stock price traded down 4% on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $218.50 and last traded at $221.43. 14,532,871 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 35% from the average session volume of 10,792,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $230.72.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Lam Research from $325.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on shares of Lam Research from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Berenberg Bank set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lam Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Lam Research from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Twenty-six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lam Research has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $360.23.

Lam Research Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $291.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $283.95. The firm has a market cap of $276.60 billion, a PE ratio of 33.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.97.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The semiconductor company reported $2.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.02. Lam Research had a net margin of 32.34% and a return on equity of 72.15%. The business had revenue of $8.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 54.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Lam Research Corporation will post 9.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 23rd were issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 23rd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 9,557 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.74, for a total value of $3,007,970.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,607,966.30. The trade was a 31.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ava Harter sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.46, for a total transaction of $1,512,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,843,056.52. This trade represents a 10.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lam Research

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Lam Research by 2.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,704,130 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,320,468,000 after purchasing an additional 1,545,830 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Lam Research by 5.5% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,244,147 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,872,426,000 after buying an additional 584,489 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Lam Research by 411.8% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 11,089,395 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,805,368,000 after buying an additional 8,922,854 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Lam Research by 23.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 10,147,479 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,168,107,000 after buying an additional 1,942,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Lam Research by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,265,026 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,975,244,000 after buying an additional 181,087 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lam Research Company Profile

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) is a semiconductor equipment company that develops and manufactures systems used to fabricate integrated circuits. Its technologies support key stages of wafer processing, helping semiconductor manufacturers create the increasingly complex structures found in memory, logic and other types of chips.

The company’s product portfolio includes etch systems, which selectively remove materials from wafers; deposition systems, which apply thin films; and cleaning solutions used to remove contaminants and residue during manufacturing.