Lam Research’s (LRCX) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $90.00 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $91.00 in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded Lam Research to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp upgraded Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.72.

Lam Research Price Performance

LRCX stock opened at $81.05 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $104.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $76.05 and its 200 day moving average is $78.95. Lam Research has a 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $113.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 52.58% and a net margin of 26.49%. Research analysts predict that Lam Research will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lam Research

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 1,394.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,081,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,123,440,000 after purchasing an additional 15,005,178 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Lam Research by 1,488.8% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,069,002 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $221,674,000 after buying an additional 2,875,843 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lam Research by 827.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,160,523 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $228,285,000 after buying an additional 2,819,668 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the 4th quarter valued at about $175,652,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Lam Research by 949.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,625,490 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $189,639,000 after acquiring an additional 2,375,385 shares in the last quarter. 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.