Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 24,860,000 shares, a drop of 14.3% from the February 13th total of 29,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 12,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the business’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 in the company, valued at $16,117,560. The trade was a 38.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Insight Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 3rd quarter valued at $202,000. B&L Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Lam Research in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the third quarter worth $220,000. Concorde Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the 3rd quarter valued at about $242,000. Finally, Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lam Research during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $245,000. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LRCX. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Lam Research from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Lam Research in a research report on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.06.

Lam Research Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LRCX traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $77.82. 2,102,565 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,003,718. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Lam Research has a twelve month low of $68.87 and a twelve month high of $113.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.59 and a 200 day moving average of $77.33.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 51.86%. On average, analysts forecast that Lam Research will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is 27.96%.

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.