Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Trading 1.7% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Lam Research shares rose 1.7% after Barclays raised its price target from $250 to $255, and several other firms also lifted targets, leaving a MarketBeat consensus of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $245.35.
• The company beat quarterly expectations (EPS $1.27 vs. $1.17 estimate; revenue $5.34B vs. $5.23B) and set Q3 2026 guidance of $1.25–$1.45 per share, also announcing a $0.26 quarterly dividend.
• Insiders have sold roughly 130,886 shares (~$29.7M) in the past 90 days (including the CFO and a director), but heavy institutional buying—most notably Norges Bank’s new ~ $3.65B position—along with S&P 100 inclusion and falling short interest create mixed but potentially supportive sentiment.

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) shares were up 1.7% during trading on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $255.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Lam Research traded as high as $221.62 and last traded at $218.87. Approximately 7,128,309 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 12,210,447 shares. The stock had previously closed at $215.23.

LRCX has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Lam Research from $244.00 to $254.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Lam Research from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group set a $300.00 price target on Lam Research in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Citic Securities lifted their price target on Lam Research from $165.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Evercore set a $275.00 price objective on Lam Research in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $245.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lam Research news, CFO Douglas R. Bettinger sold 50,057 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.03, for a total transaction of $11,214,269.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,081,705 shares of the company's stock, valued at $242,334,371.15. The trade was a 4.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Eric Brandt sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.60, for a total value of $7,896,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 253,705 shares in the company, valued at $57,235,848. This trade represents a 12.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 130,886 shares of company stock valued at $29,658,802 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

More Lam Research News

Here are the key news stories impacting Lam Research this week:

• Positive Sentiment: IBM collaboration accelerates roadmap for advanced nodes — Lam and IBM announced a joint effort to advance sub‑1nm logic scaling (materials, processes and High‑NA EUV techniques). That directly supports Lam’s TAM at the leading edge of wafer‑fab equipment and improves its long‑term exposure to advanced logic capex. IBM and Lam press release
• Positive Sentiment: Upgraded industry outlook and higher analyst target — Barclays raised its chip‑gear spending estimates and boosted Lam’s price target (from $250 to $255), backing stronger capital spending for 2026–27 and lending near‑term demand credibility. These upgrades support earnings and multiple expansion for equipment names. Chip gear spending article Barclays price target note
• Positive Sentiment: S&P‑100 inclusion and sector rotation into equipment names — Lam’s upcoming addition to the S&P 100 (effective prior to March 23) plus improving sentiment toward AI/compute capex is prompting passive inflows and rotation back into high‑beta semiconductor‑equipment stocks. That can create incremental demand and support the share price. QuiverQuant S&P100 coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Significant drop in short interest — short interest fell ~20.7% to ~26.1M shares as of Feb. 27 (≈2.1% of float) with a ~3.0 days‑to‑cover ratio. Reduced short exposure lowers selling pressure and reduces tail risk from shorting activity. (data release)
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation check after big gains — recent analysis highlights Lam’s very strong 1‑year return and a recent pullback; investors are weighing stretched multiples versus continued demand/guide. This frames the tradeoff between momentum and valuation risk. Valuation analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Notable insider selling and mixed institutional flows — recent disclosures show multiple insiders net selling and large institutional portfolio shifts (some big reductions and additions); heavy insider sales can be perceived as profit‑taking and may temper near‑term sentiment. Insider & institutional activity

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lam Research

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LRCX. Norges Bank bought a new position in Lam Research during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,645,427,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Lam Research by 352.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,695,210 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,344,347,000 after purchasing an additional 10,666,540 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Lam Research by 781.3% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,340,865 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,518,542,000 after purchasing an additional 10,053,978 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 14.4% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 40,622,437 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,954,188,000 after purchasing an additional 5,102,589 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 57.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,110,560 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,730,724,000 after purchasing an additional 3,671,073 shares during the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lam Research Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $222.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.33. The stock has a market cap of $273.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.85, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.77.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $5.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.23 billion. Lam Research had a net margin of 30.22% and a return on equity of 62.81%. The firm's revenue was up 22.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Lam Research has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.450 EPS. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 4th. Lam Research's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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