Shares of Lam Research Co. (NASDAQ: LRCX – Get Rating) hit a fresh 52-week low in Monday’s midday session after Wells Fargo & Company lowered its price target on the stock from 475.00 $ to $410.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Lam Research traded as low as $348.31 and last traded at $348.41, with volume traded at 35105 shares. The stock had previously closed at $374.84.

Several other equity research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced its target price on Lam Research shares from $720.00 to $700.00 in a Thursday, July 28 research note. Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on Lam Research shares from $550.00 to $543.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a Tuesday, September 6 report. Barclays cut its price target on Lam Research from $450.00 to $405.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a Wednesday, September 28 research report. StockNews.com downgraded Lam Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a Friday, September 2 research report. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut its price target on Lam Research from $560.00 to $480.00 in a Monday, July 18 report. Ten research analysts gave the stock a hold rating and eight gave the company a buy rating. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $597.30.

Hedge funds weigh on Lam Research

Hedge funds have recently increased or reduced their holdings in the stock. Vectors Research Management LLC increased its position in Lam Research by 133.3% in the 4th quarter. Vectors Research Management LLC now owns 35 shares of the semiconductor company valued at $25,000 after acquiring 20 additional shares during the period. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Lam Research during the first quarter at a value of $27,000. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora bought a new stock position in Lam Research in Q1 for about $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in Lam Research by 1,400.0% during the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 60 shares of the semiconductor company worth $32,000 after buying 56 additional shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Lam Research in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors hold 80.09% of the company’s shares.

Lam Research stock performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 2.69 and a leverage ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $443.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $461.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64, a growth price-to-earnings ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.39.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX – Get Rating) last released quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 27. The semiconductor company reported earnings per share of $8.83 for the quarter, beating consensus analyst estimates of $7.31 from $1.52. Lam Research had a net margin of 26.73% and a return on equity of 75.71%. The company posted revenue of $4.64 billion for the quarter, versus analyst estimates of $4.21 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned earnings per share of $8.09. The company’s quarterly revenue increased by 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equity research analysts expect Lam Research Co. to post EPS of 37.34 for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research increases its dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 5. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 14 received a dividend of $1.725 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 13. This is a positive change from Lam Research’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents an annualized dividend of $6.90 and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.07%.

Lam Research Company Profile

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Lam Research Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the manufacture of integrated circuits. The company offers ALTUS systems to deposit conformal films for tungsten plating applications; SABER electrochemical deposition products for copper interconnect transition which offers damascened copper fabrication; SOLA ultraviolet heat treatment products for film processing; and VECTOR plasma-enriched CVD ALD products.

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