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

Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $66.73, but opened at $69.67. Lam Research shares last traded at $70.85, with a volume of 4,946,557 shares trading hands.

The semiconductor company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. Lam Research had a return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on LRCX. Wolfe Research cut Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Lam Research from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Lam Research from $87.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Lam Research from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.80.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In other news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 179,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,117,560. This represents a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its stake in Lam Research by 652.9% during the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 8,350 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 7,241 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY purchased a new position in Lam Research in the fourth quarter worth approximately $815,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC grew its position in Lam Research by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Transform Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Lam Research during the fourth quarter worth $17,269,000. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the fourth quarter valued at $4,258,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Trading Up 6.2 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.54. The firm has a market cap of $91.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.52.

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.