Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Trading Up 7% – Here’s Why

Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) were up 7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $463.88 and last traded at $490.2750. Approximately 6,607,632 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 7,459,887 shares. The stock had previously closed at $458.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $400.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $530.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners initiated coverage on Applied Materials in a research note on Monday, May 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Twenty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.13.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $397.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $404.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $339.58.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.39 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Judy Bruner sold 1,128 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $450.00, for a total transaction of $507,600.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 26,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,944,800. This represents a 4.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 268 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.22, for a total value of $116,370.96. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,280 shares in the company, valued at $1,858,461.60. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 26.7% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $590,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the period. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 30.1% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 3,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 59.3% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 422,694 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $77,383,000 after purchasing an additional 157,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

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.