Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Hits New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $66.93 and last traded at $67.28, with a volume of 5738323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LRCX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $125.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.59.

Lam Research Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $83.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.28. 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 (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 51.86%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.96%.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $9,907,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. This trade represents a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parisi Gray Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 652.9% in the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 8,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 7,241 shares in the last quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY bought a new position in Lam Research in the 4th quarter valued at $815,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lam Research by 900.0% in the 4th quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 51.9% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 215,420 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $175,800,000 after purchasing an additional 73,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transform Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the fourth quarter worth $17,269,000. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.