Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $76.15, but opened at $78.89. Lam Research shares last traded at $79.23, with a volume of 1,620,426 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LRCX has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. KeyCorp raised 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. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.77.

Lam Research Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $103.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $74.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.99.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.06 billion. Lam Research had a return on equity of 50.60% and a net margin of 26.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.85 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Lam Research Co. will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.74%.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Lam Research by 175.0% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 88 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. NCP Inc. acquired a new position in Lam Research in the 2nd quarter valued at $213,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its holdings in Lam Research by 2,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $163,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Lam Research during the 2nd quarter worth $226,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Lam Research during the second quarter valued at about $228,000. 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.