Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $95.77.

Several research firms recently weighed in on LRCX. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Lam Research to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th.

Lam Research Price Performance

LRCX opened at $83.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $107.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.45. Lam Research has a fifty-two week low of $68.87 and a fifty-two week high of $113.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $74.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.06 billion. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.02% and a return on equity of 50.60%. Lam Research’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lam Research will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Lam Research by 1,394.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,081,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,123,440,000 after purchasing an additional 15,005,178 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Lam Research in the 4th quarter worth $175,652,000. KBC Group NV grew its position in Lam Research by 904.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,371,062 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $99,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234,595 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in Lam Research in the 4th quarter worth $35,253,000. Finally, Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its position in Lam Research by 1,129.8% in the 4th quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 482,156 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $34,825,000 after purchasing an additional 442,949 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.