Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Trading 4.6% Higher – Here’s Why

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s stock price shot up 4.6% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $271.23 and last traded at $268.87. 7,509,728 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 31% from the average session volume of 5,734,079 shares. The stock had previously closed at $256.99.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $250.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. B. Riley increased their price target on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $255.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.78.

Applied Materials Stock Up 4.6%

The firm has a market capitalization of $213.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $246.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.50.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. IFG Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1,008.1% during the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 36,156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,619,000 after purchasing an additional 32,893 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 12,643 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,315,000 after buying an additional 2,363 shares during the last quarter. Sienna Gestion grew its position in Applied Materials by 10.2% during the second quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 113,221 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,924,000 after buying an additional 10,468 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 31.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 145,277 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,601,000 after buying an additional 35,012 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 13,360.6% during the second quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 694,431 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $127,129,000 after buying an additional 689,272 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.