Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price Up 2.3% – Here’s Why

Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) shot up 2.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $404.08 and last traded at $403.48. 5,216,873 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 7,282,811 shares. The stock had previously closed at $394.33.

Applied Materials News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Advantest has joined Applied’s EPIC platform and will co‑locate an innovation center in Silicon Valley to accelerate front‑end manufacturing to back‑end testing workflows for advanced AI/HPC chips — this strengthens AMAT’s position in the semiconductor value chain and could shorten time‑to‑market for customers, supporting future equipment demand. Applied Materials Announces Advantest as Innovation Partner for EPIC Platform in Silicon Valley
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Applied joined Tesla’s Terafab project — if that initiative translates into equipment orders, it could be incremental revenue and a high‑visibility reference customer for factory automation and packaging tools. The item is speculative but bullish on potential upside. Applied Materials Just Joined the Tesla Terafab Project. Does That Make AMAT Stock a Buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparative financial coverage contrasts AMAT with peers (SemiLEDS), useful for valuation and relative‑performance checks but not immediately market moving. Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) & SemiLEDS (NASDAQ:LEDS) Financial Contrast
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts/coverage pieces caution that Applied’s valuation looks stretched relative to fundamentals, which raises downside risk if growth disappoints or multiple compression occurs. That concern is tempering some of the optimism from partnership news. Applied Materials Deepens Chip Test Links As Valuation Looks Stretched
• Negative Sentiment: Legislative/geo‑political risk: Micron is pushing U.S. lawmakers to tighten chip‑tool export restrictions (MATCH Act) — that could increase regulatory uncertainty and compliance burden for equipment suppliers or pressure foreign sellers to align with U.S. curbs, potentially affecting AMAT’s addressable market or sales process in certain regions. Micron pushes US Congress to crack down on chip tool sales to Chinese rivals, sources say

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AMAT. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group set a $430.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Applied Materials from $420.00 to $432.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.29.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $362.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $298.25. The company has a market capitalization of $320.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.94.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. Applied Materials’s revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.83%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total transaction of $979,275.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 26,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. The trade was a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 48.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by 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.