Lam Research Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 48,997 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 16% compared to the typical volume of 42,219 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP lifted its position in Lam Research by 175.0% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 88 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. NCP Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research during the 2nd quarter worth about $213,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its holdings in Lam Research by 2,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC bought a new stake in Lam Research in the second quarter worth about $256,000. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Lam Research during the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on LRCX shares. 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on Lam Research from $90.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Lam Research from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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, Lam Research has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.72.

Lam Research Stock Up 7.4 %

LRCX opened at $80.73 on Friday. Lam Research has a twelve month low of $68.87 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $75.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.45.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 50.60% and a net margin of 26.02%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lam Research will post 3.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

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.