Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price Up 3.3% – Here’s What Happened

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s share price shot up 3.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $344.34 and last traded at $339.88. 7,053,854 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 8,149,915 shares. The stock had previously closed at $329.07.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied rolled out new deposition, etch and materials systems (Viva™, Sym3™ Z Magnum™, Spectral™ ALD) designed for 2nm GAA transistors and molybdenum contacts — technologies that target performance and energy-efficiency gains for AI chips and are being adopted by leading foundries. This supports medium‑term revenue upside if wafer‑fab customers ramp tools. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Samsung Electronics will join Applied’s new $5 billion EPIC Center in Silicon Valley, a high-profile R&D collaboration that strengthens customer ties and can accelerate tool qualification and future equipment orders. Strategic partnerships with top foundries reduce adoption risk for Applied’s advanced systems. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive: RBC reaffirmed an outperform rating with a $385 target and multiple firms have raised price targets (median ~$350), validating bullish expectations for AMAT’s growth from AI, memory and advanced packaging tailwinds. Analyst momentum lends support to the recent rally. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple previews (Zacks, Barchart, Seeking Alpha) expect Q1 strength driven by AI lift in wafer fab equipment, DRAM/NAND and display demand, but note elevated valuation after the run‑up; earnings will likely be the immediate catalyst for next moves. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary (Investopedia, Yahoo/MSN) highlights that traders expect a sizable post‑earnings move — which increases short‑term volatility potential even if underlying fundamentals look strong. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling activity and warnings about stretched valuation are noted in coverage; some pieces caution that the rally has priced in strong order momentum, so any guidance shortfall or weaker orders could trigger a pullback. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in feeds showed mixed/erroneous entries (some zero values) but the clean Jan 30 report showed short interest fell ~14.6% to ~13.7M shares (≈1.7% of float), which slightly reduces immediate short‑squeeze risk. Treat the conflicting short‑interest notices as a data anomaly. (No single article link — source: exchange short‑interest releases summarized in feeds.)

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Applied Materials from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $273.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Monday. Twenty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $315.15.

Applied Materials Stock Up 3.3%

The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $290.86 and a 200-day moving average of $233.85. The firm has a market cap of $269.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.70.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 21.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,779,340 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,731,523,000 after purchasing an additional 330,197 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,125,265,000 after buying an additional 391,540 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 119.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 32,707,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,405,458,000 after acquiring an additional 17,829,377 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,836,807,000 after acquiring an additional 407,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700,349 shares in 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.