Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Short Interest Update

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 24,860,000 shares, a drop of 14.3% from the February 13th total of 29,020,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 12,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on LRCX shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. KeyCorp raised 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Susquehanna upgraded Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $125.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lam Research currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.22.

Lam Research Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of LRCX traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $77.93. 8,783,717 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,021,749. Lam Research has a 12 month low of $68.87 and a 12 month high of $113.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $79.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.36. The company has a market capitalization of $100.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. Equities research analysts predict that Lam Research will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $9,907,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,117,560. This represents a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Financial Perspectives Inc increased its position in Lam Research by 908.8% during the 4th quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 343 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 340 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Lam Research during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.