Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Lam Research Call Options (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 28,177 call options on the company. This is an increase of 91% compared to the typical volume of 14,764 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total transaction of $528,928.97. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,267 shares in the company, valued at $3,488,315.17. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Symmetry Investments LP purchased a new position in Lam Research during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,229,000. Benson Investment Management Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the third quarter worth about $5,182,000. Brown Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Lam Research during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,489,000. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 893.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 14,522 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,851,000 after acquiring an additional 13,060 shares during the period. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,105,000. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LRCX opened at $76.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a PE ratio of 2.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $95.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.99. Lam Research has a twelve month low of $57.44 and a twelve month high of $113.00.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.05. Lam Research had a return on equity of 48.71% and a net margin of 25.68%. The business had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Lam Research will post 3.52 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LRCX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho reduced their price target on Lam Research from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Lam Research from $1,000.00 to $880.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $113.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Lam Research from $113.00 to $132.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.28.

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.