Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Up 3.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) shot up 3.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $396.01 and last traded at $394.49. 7,002,483 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 7,240,734 shares. The stock had previously closed at $382.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMAT. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Applied Materials from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 target price on Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Twenty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.29.

Applied Materials Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $308.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $368.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $305.94.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.11 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 ninety days, insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 150.0% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.