Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Up 2.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Lam Research shares rose 2.2% after Morgan Stanley upgraded its price target from $137 to $158. The stock traded as high as $159.45, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $152.87. Insider trading and institutional investments were noted, with significant transactions by Director Bethany Mayer and SVP Vahid Vahedi. The company reported better-than-expected earnings, with a market cap of $198.69 billion.

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) was up 2.2% during trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $137.00 to $158.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Lam Research traded as high as $159.45 and last traded at $158.19. Approximately 10,524,589 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 11,830,515 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.79.

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A number of other analysts have also recently commented on LRCX. Zacks Research cut Lam Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lam Research from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. New Street Research increased their target price on shares of Lam Research from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Barclays set a $142.00 price target on shares of Lam Research and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Lam Research in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $152.87.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on LRCX

Insider Buying and Selling at Lam Research

MarketBeat Week in Review – 11/10 - 11/14

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Lam Research in the second quarter valued at $1,894,585,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 10,053,978 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Lam Research by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 129,152,102 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $9,389,358,000 after acquiring an additional 8,364,375 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Lam Research in the 1st quarter valued at about $604,344,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings 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 period. 84.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lam Research Trading Up 2.2%

2 Reasons to Buy Into Lam’s 185% Rally, 1 Reason to Run Away

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.21 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.49. The stock has a market cap of $198.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.77.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $5.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.23 billion. Lam Research had a return on equity of 60.60% and a net margin of 29.66%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 27.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. Lam Research has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.050-1.250 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Lam Research Corporation will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Lam Research's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.91%.

About Lam Research

(Get Free Report)

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.

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