Oppenheimer Begins Coverage on Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Equities research analysts at Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the semiconductor company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.78% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on LRCX. Wolfe Research lowered Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.06.

Lam Research Price Performance

Lam Research stock traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $77.38. 624,853 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,997,312. The company’s fifty day moving average is $79.59 and its 200-day moving average is $77.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.54. Lam Research has a 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $113.00. The firm has a market cap of $99.33 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lam Research will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In related news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $9,907,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares in the company, valued at $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. Cypress Capital Group boosted its position in shares of Lam Research by 3.7% during the third quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 3,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,987,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 50.9% during the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 400 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 10,249 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,364,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC increased its stake in shares of Lam Research by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC now owns 1,559 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,272,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Lam Research by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,859 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,149,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.