Sanford C. Bernstein Cuts Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Price Target to $85.00

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) had its target price lowered by Sanford C. Bernstein from $95.00 to $85.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on LRCX. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com cut Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Lam Research from $99.00 to $89.30 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Lam Research from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price (down from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Lam Research Price Performance

Lam Research stock opened at $73.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $95.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.48. 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 has a 12 month low of $68.72 and a 12 month high of $113.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $76.52 and its 200-day moving average is $86.64.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.05. Lam Research had a return on equity of 50.60% and a net margin of 26.02%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Lam Research will post 3.52 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total transaction of $528,928.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,267 shares in the company, valued at $3,488,315.17. This trade represents a 13.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LRCX. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Lam Research by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 238,275 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $194,451,000 after acquiring an additional 39,725 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 47,377 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $38,664,000 after buying an additional 1,146 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 68.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 35,991 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,372,000 after buying an additional 14,658 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 340,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $278,165,000 after buying an additional 28,089 shares during the period. Finally, Benson Investment Management Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the 3rd quarter valued at $5,182,000. 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.