Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Trading Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) were up 1% during mid-day trading on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $254.00 to $260.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Lam Research traded as high as $221.56 and last traded at $220.65. Approximately 4,021,574 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 11,772,662 shares. The stock had previously closed at $218.44.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Lam Research from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Lam Research from $170.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on Lam Research from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lam Research currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lam Research news, Director Eric Brandt sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.60, for a total transaction of $7,896,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 253,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,235,848. This trade represents a 12.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ava Harter sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.50, for a total value of $930,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 54,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,718,912.50. The trade was a 6.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 130,886 shares of company stock valued at $29,658,802. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 1,032.4% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,189 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 12,936 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Lam Research in the first quarter valued at $239,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 14.9% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 4,789 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 1.1% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 34,983 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,405,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Finally, Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 9.5% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 30,103 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,937,000 after purchasing an additional 2,614 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

Lam Research Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $275.54 billion, a PE ratio of 45.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $226.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $186.44.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.10. Lam Research had a return on equity of 62.81% and a net margin of 30.22%.The firm had revenue of $5.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Lam Research has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.450 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Lam Research Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 4th. Lam Research’s payout ratio is 21.31%.

Lam Research Company Profile

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) is a global supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry. Founded in 1980 by David K. Lam and headquartered in Fremont, California, the company develops and manufactures systems used in multiple stages of semiconductor device production, including thin film deposition, plasma etch, wafer cleaning and related process modules and automation.

Lam’s product portfolio covers core process technologies employed by logic and memory manufacturers, with equipment designed to support advanced-node patterning, 3D NAND and other emerging device architectures.