Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price Up 5% on Analyst Upgrade

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares were up 5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $432.00 to $454.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Applied Materials traded as high as $414.50 and last traded at $410.82. Approximately 6,282,485 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 7,154,574 shares. The stock had previously closed at $391.38.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on AMAT. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 target price on Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Applied Materials from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Summit Insights raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Applied Materials from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $370.86.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total value of $1,496,392.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,778,624.78. The trade was a 12.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 150.0% during the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the third quarter worth $26,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $368.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $307.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $326.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.05, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.66.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.11 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.70%.

About Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.