Cantor Fitzgerald Issues Positive Forecast for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald from $500.00 to $550.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price indicates a potential upside of 26.38% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also commented on AMAT. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Applied Materials from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $517.00 price objective for the company. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.66.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $435.18 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $371.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $311.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. Applied Materials has a fifty-two week low of $153.47 and a fifty-two week high of $438.04. The company has a market cap of $345.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.66.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Applied Materials will post 11.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,219,322.19. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $19,731,523,000 after purchasing an additional 330,197 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised 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 buying an additional 17,829,377 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,520,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,563,376,000 after buying an additional 3,583,751 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,470,835 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,947,891,000 after acquiring an additional 373,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,858,543,000. Hedge funds and other 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.