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

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 34,219 call options on the company. This is an increase of 12% compared to the typical daily volume of 30,525 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LRCX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Lam Research in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Lam Research from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Lam Research from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price (down previously from $105.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.29.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In related news, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $817.51, for a total value of $528,928.97. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,267 shares in the company, valued at $3,488,315.17. The trade was a 13.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 39,725 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 2.5% in the third 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 boosted its position in shares of Lam Research by 68.7% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 35,991 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,372,000 after acquiring an additional 14,658 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Lam Research by 9.0% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 340,855 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $278,165,000 after acquiring an additional 28,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benson Investment Management Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the 3rd quarter worth $5,182,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Stock Up 6.3 %

LRCX stock opened at $78.51 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $76.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.64. The stock has a market cap of $101.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.48. Lam Research has a twelve month low of $68.72 and a twelve month high of $113.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 29.77%.

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.