Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Sets New 52-Week Low - Time to Sell?

Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $68.53 and last traded at $71.67, with a volume of 11196970 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $70.90.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Lam Research from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Lam Research from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Lam Research from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Susquehanna upgraded shares of Lam Research from a "neutral" rating to a "positive" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $125.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $91.56.

Lam Research Stock Performance

The business's 50-day moving average price is $71.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.15. The stock has a market cap of $95.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 2.54.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 51.86% and a net margin of 26.49%. The business had revenue of $4.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.79 earnings per share. Lam Research's revenue for the quarter was up 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lam Research Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Lam Research's payout ratio is currently 25.63%.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, SVP Seshasayee Varadarajan sold 110,080 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $9,907,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 179,084 shares in the company, valued at $16,117,560. This represents a 38.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lam Research

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LRCX. Parisi Gray Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Lam Research by 652.9% in the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 8,350 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 7,241 shares in the last quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY bought a new position in shares of Lam Research during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $815,000. Centerpoint Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 900.0% in the fourth quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Transform Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Lam Research in the fourth quarter worth $17,269,000. Finally, E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at $4,258,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.