Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Trading 8.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX)’s share price rose 8.1% on Friday . The company traded as high as $185.78 and last traded at $185.06. Approximately 11,846,531 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 24% from the average daily volume of 9,587,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.18.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LRCX. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Lam Research from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Lam Research from $115.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays set a $142.00 price target on shares of Lam Research and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Twenty-six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $161.21.

Lam Research Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $160.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.24. The firm has a market cap of $232.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 2.21.

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

Lam Research Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lam Research news, Director Bethany Mayer sold 1,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.99, for a total value of $207,667.02. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,652 shares in the company, valued at $264,303.48. This trade represents a 44.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Vahid Vahedi sold 52,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.90, for a total value of $7,249,191.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 251,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,870,428.30. The trade was a 17.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 102,608 shares of company stock valued at $14,916,496. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Lam Research by 1,032.4% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,189 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 12,936 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 18.2% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 14,012 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 2,162 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lam Research by 40.1% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 64,870 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,716,000 after purchasing an additional 18,566 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 63.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 907,326 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $64,520,000 after purchasing an additional 352,264 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Lam Research by 13.3% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,593,509 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $261,248,000 after buying an additional 421,140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.61% of the company’s stock.

About Lam Research

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.