Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $260.00 price target on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.78% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AMAT. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Summit Insights lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Daiwa America lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.07.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.6%

Applied Materials stock traded up $1.33 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $224.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,408,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,620,147. Applied Materials has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $242.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.76, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $211.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.28.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 225.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,877,672 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,046,057,000 after purchasing an additional 10,305,182 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,604,002,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 617.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,129,483 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,869,170,000 after acquiring an additional 7,856,576 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,409,320,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter valued at $1,085,600,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.