Lam Research’s (LRCX) Buy Rating Reiterated at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $100.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $105.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on LRCX. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Lam Research from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Lam Research from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $99.00 to $89.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. B. Riley lowered their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $132.50 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Lam Research from $81.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.03.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of LRCX stock opened at $77.68 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $100.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.79, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $79.21 and its 200 day moving average is $89.71. Lam Research has a 1-year low of $57.44 and a 1-year high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.05. Lam Research had a net margin of 25.68% and a return on equity of 48.71%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.85 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Lam Research will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 17th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.72%.

Insider Activity

In other Lam Research news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total transaction of $528,928.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,488,315.17. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Lam Research by 994.1% during the 3rd quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 232,901 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $190,066,000 after buying an additional 211,614 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the first quarter worth approximately $192,668,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 191,230 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 144,914 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew 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 acquiring an additional 142,903 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

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.