Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) Shares Down 1.4% – Should You Sell?

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX)’s stock price was down 1.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $326.56 and last traded at $332.36. Approximately 7,410,567 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 34% from the average session volume of 11,265,345 shares. The stock had previously closed at $337.01.

Lam Research News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Lam Research plans to increase R&D experiment capacity by more than 50% across facilities in the United States, Asia and Europe. Management says the investment should accelerate product development and help customers address increasingly complex AI-chip architectures, materials and nanoscale manufacturing requirements. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are viewing Lam’s expertise in etching, including next-generation atomic-layer etching, as a potentially valuable competitive advantage as AI-driven semiconductor production requires greater manufacturing precision. The company’s recent rebound has renewed optimism that its technology could benefit from a longer-term equipment upcycle. 247WallSt article
• Positive Sentiment: SanDisk’s bullish multiyear financial targets have strengthened expectations for memory-industry capital spending through 2030, supporting demand prospects for semiconductor equipment suppliers such as Lam Research. SanDisk financial targets article
• Neutral Sentiment: Polen Capital identified LRCX as a top performer in its Focus Growth portfolio, while Zacks continues to highlight the stock’s long-term earnings outlook. These endorsements may support sentiment but do not represent new company guidance or guaranteed returns. Polen Capital article
• Negative Sentiment: The R&D expansion requires substantial spending over several years, creating execution and return-on-investment risks. Lam also trades at a relatively elevated valuation after a sharp recovery, leaving the stock vulnerable to profit-taking and concerns that the semiconductor cycle may be approaching a peak.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LRCX. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Lam Research from $325.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 target price (down from $450.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $310.00) on shares of Lam Research in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. New Street Research upped their price target on shares of Lam Research from $235.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Lam Research from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $358.47.

Lam Research Trading Down 1.4%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $339.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $283.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.63. The firm has a market cap of $415.89 billion, a PE ratio of 57.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.84.

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The semiconductor company reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Lam Research had a net margin of 31.27% and a return on equity of 67.60%. Lam Research’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. Lam Research has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.000-2.300 EPS. Analysts expect that Lam Research Corporation will post 9.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lam Research Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 17th. Lam Research’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.06%.

Insider Transactions at Lam Research

In other news, Director Abhijit Y. Talwalkar sold 18,282 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $6,124,470.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 87,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,192,570. The trade was a 17.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Neil J. Fernandes sold 7,659 shares of Lam Research stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.60, for a total transaction of $2,371,226.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 58,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,102,312. The trade was a 11.58% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold 80,441 shares of company stock valued at $27,614,296 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lam Research

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. World Equity Group Inc. increased its stake in Lam Research by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 5,576 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,416,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Tenzing Financial LLC raised its stake in Lam Research by 3.5% during the second quarter. Tenzing Financial LLC now owns 1,018 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lam Research by 3.6% in the second quarter. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Elevated Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lam Research by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Elevated Financial Group LLC now owns 1,223 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yoder Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Lam Research by 3.3% in the second quarter. Yoder Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,129 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.