Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $525.70, but opened at $564.95. Applied Materials shares last traded at $558.5640, with a volume of 1,005,525 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $500.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Truist Financial set a $575.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Seaport Research Partners assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Monday, May 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 target price for the company. HSBC started coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $517.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $650.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $593.84.

Applied Materials Trading Up 7.3%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $534.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $415.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.51. The firm has a market cap of $447.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.57.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The business had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.39 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 19.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CEO Gary E. Dickerson sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $735.22, for a total value of $14,704,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,599,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,176,236,570.46. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 24,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $593.43, for a total transaction of $14,398,392.09. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 146,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,184,361.88. This trade represents a 14.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 278,088 shares of company stock worth $169,654,805. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Evolve Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 59.0% in the first quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,875 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $983,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,531,000. World Investment Advisors raised its stake in Applied Materials by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 82,296 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $21,149,000 after purchasing an additional 3,508 shares during the period. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,082,000. Finally, Baker Chad R lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 76.6% in the 4th quarter. Baker Chad R now owns 16,530 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,297,000 after purchasing an additional 7,170 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Company Profile

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.