Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $74.51, but opened at $77.45. Lam Research shares last traded at $75.23, with a volume of 3,161,825 shares trading hands.

The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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 52.58%.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LRCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley lowered their price target on shares of Lam Research from $132.50 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lam Research has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.72.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Lam Research during the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 892.4% in the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,850 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 7,059 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Lam Research by 607.5% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 20,313 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after buying an additional 17,442 shares during the period. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Lam Research by 695.2% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,117 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 2,725 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.93. The firm has a market cap of $103.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.52, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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.