Wells Fargo & Company Trims Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Target Price to $1,000.00

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $1,100.00 to $1,000.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the semiconductor company’s stock.

LRCX has been the topic of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a hold rating and a $1,000.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $975.00 to $1,025.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lam Research from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $950.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $900.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lam Research presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $1,007.85.

Lam Research Stock Performance

LRCX stock traded down $67.33 on Thursday, hitting $763.00. The company had a trading volume of 2,707,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,248,138. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $999.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $946.01. The stock has a market cap of $99.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.48. Lam Research has a 12-month low of $574.42 and a 12-month high of $1,130.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Lam Research shares are scheduled to split on Thursday, October 3rd. The 10-1 split was announced on Tuesday, May 21st. The newly created shares will be distributed to shareholders after the closing bell on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $8.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.58 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $3.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. Lam Research had a net margin of 25.68% and a return on equity of 48.71%. The company’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lam Research will post 35.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 21st that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to purchase up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $2.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $8.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total transaction of $1,712,323.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,535,456.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 1,620 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,056.99, for a total transaction of $1,712,323.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 5,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,535,456.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Christina Correia sold 647 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,062.26, for a total transaction of $687,282.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,219,945.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,326 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,715. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Lam Research by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,856,661 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $11,519,576,000 after buying an additional 144,914 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,973,516 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,329,037,000 after purchasing an additional 86,721 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,959,151 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,875,023,000 after purchasing an additional 142,903 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,414,111,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,075,893 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,145,664,000 after purchasing an additional 107,778 shares in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.