Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Trading Up 1.2% – Should You Buy?

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s share price traded up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $362.63 and last traded at $359.13. 8,523,820 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 8,452,062 shares. The stock had previously closed at $354.91.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 / fiscal Q1 results beat expectations and management gave aggressive forward guidance (CEO projected ~20% calendar‑year revenue growth and raised Q2 outlook), which sparked the rally. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several firms bumped up price targets and ratings after the results — notable raises reported (Needham and others), backing upside to current consensus and supporting further upside momentum. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are increasingly framing AMAT as a primary beneficiary of the AI-driven “Giga‑cycle”; TD Cowen and other shops have raised targets (e.g., Cowen to ~$450), reinforcing buy‑side conviction. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader industry coverage highlights AMAT’s leadership among equipment suppliers in the current multi‑year chip investment wave — a positive thematic tailwind but already largely priced into many forecasts. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management scheduled investor conference appearances/fireside chats — useful for additional color on demand and margin trajectory but not an immediate catalyst on its own. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Published short‑interest reports show anomalous “0 shares / NaN” figures for mid‑February — appears to be a data error and does not indicate a meaningful short squeeze. Investors should rely on standard data sources for positioning metrics. (data entries)

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday. Twenty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.04.

Applied Materials Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $296.94 and a 200 day moving average of $238.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm has a market cap of $285.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.70.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. IFG Advisory LLC increased its stake 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 worth $6,619,000 after purchasing an additional 32,893 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 6.9% during the third quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,511 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $55,180,000 after purchasing an additional 17,397 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its position in Applied Materials by 23.0% during the second 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 raised its stake in Applied Materials by 10.2% in 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. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 13,360.6% in the second quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 694,431 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $127,129,000 after buying an additional 689,272 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.