Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Trading Up 7% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Lam Research shares jumped 7% on Monday, trading as high as $330.68 after closing at $303.28, with volume running above average.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: several firms raised price targets, and MarketBeat says the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target of $303.30. In total, 27 analysts rate it a Buy and seven rate it Hold.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, including EPS of $1.47 versus $1.36 expected and revenue of $5.84 billion, up 23.8% year over year. Lam Research also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share.

Shares of Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) rose 7% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $330.68 and last traded at $324.45. Approximately 11,411,820 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 6% from the average daily volume of 10,783,759 shares. The stock had previously closed at $303.28.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LRCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Lam Research from $290.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Lam Research from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on Lam Research from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on Lam Research from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Twenty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $303.30.

Lam Research Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $273.22 and a 200 day moving average of $227.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $405.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.85.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The semiconductor company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. Lam Research had a return on equity of 66.21% and a net margin of 30.94%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. Lam Research has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.500-1.800 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Lam Research Corporation will post 5.67 EPS for the current year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 17th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Lam Research's payout ratio is 19.62%.

Insider Activity at Lam Research

In other Lam Research news, insider Ava Harter sold 6,010 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.66, for a total value of $1,554,546.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 53,205 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,762,005.30. The trade was a 10.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 18,170 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.14, for a total value of $4,635,893.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 66,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,872,153.06. This trade represents a 21.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 31,839 shares of company stock worth $8,561,667. Insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lam Research

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LRCX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Lam Research during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,645,427,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 352.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 10,666,540 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 781.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 10,053,978 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 57.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,110,560 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,730,724,000 after acquiring an additional 3,671,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lam Research by 235.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,199,441 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $890,040,000 after acquiring an additional 3,649,553 shares in the last quarter. 84.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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