Investors Purchase High Volume of Lam Research Call Options (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 48,997 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 16% compared to the typical daily volume of 42,219 call options.

Lam Research Trading Up 7.6 %

Shares of Lam Research stock traded up $5.74 during trading on Thursday, reaching $80.89. 14,706,099 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,112,000. Lam Research has a twelve month low of $68.87 and a twelve month high of $113.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $75.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.93. 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 market capitalization of $104.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.45.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lam Research will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its position in shares of Lam Research by 2.4% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 2,074 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,693,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Lam Research by 175.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 88 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 412 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 34.0% in the third quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cypress Capital Group boosted its position in shares of Lam Research by 3.7% during the third quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 3,660 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,987,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LRCX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp raised Lam Research from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wolfe Research lowered Lam Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Lam Research from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lam Research currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.72.

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.