Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Up 3.1% – Time to Buy?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on AMAT. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $315.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.29.

Applied Materials Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $313.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.64. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $368.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $305.33.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total value of $1,496,392.38. Following the transaction, the director owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,778,624.78. This trade represents a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 150.0% during the third 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 during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials during the third quarter worth $26,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 48.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.