Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $167.81 and last traded at $168.9770, with a volume of 4639092 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $165.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LRCX. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Lam Research from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Monday. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. New Street Research increased their price target on Lam Research from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Lam Research from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Twenty-six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lam Research presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $152.87.

Lam Research Stock Up 1.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $151.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $118.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.57 billion, a PE ratio of 37.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.77.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The semiconductor company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.04. Lam Research had a return on equity of 60.60% and a net margin of 29.66%.The business had revenue of $5.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Lam Research has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.050-1.250 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Lam Research Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.91%.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In related news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 1,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.99, for a total value of $207,667.02. Following the sale, the director owned 1,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,303.48. The trade was a 44.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Douglas R. Bettinger sold 40,080 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.60, for a total value of $6,036,048.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 987,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,677,892.20. The trade was a 3.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 102,608 shares of company stock worth $14,916,496 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lam Research in the second quarter worth approximately $1,894,585,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 781.3% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,340,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,518,542,000 after acquiring an additional 10,053,978 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Lam Research by 14.4% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 40,622,437 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,954,188,000 after purchasing an additional 5,102,589 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Lam Research by 18.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 21,182,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,836,397,000 after purchasing an additional 3,263,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Lam Research by 99.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,739,221 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $417,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,864,863 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

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.