Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 31 analysts, with 18 recommending a buy, 12 suggesting hold, and 1 rating it as a sell.
• The average twelve-month price target for the stock among analysts is $206.08, indicating potential for growth in the coming year.
• The company recently reported quarterly earnings of $2.48 EPS, exceeding expectations, with revenue of $7.30 billion, up 7.7% year-over-year.

Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-one analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $206.0769.

AMAT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Daiwa America downgraded Applied Materials from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Cfra Research raised Applied Materials to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $227.72 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $185.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.57. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $232.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.41 billion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.82.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The firm had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.93%.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,604,002,000. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,409,320,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,085,600,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in 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 valued at $2,483,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700,349 shares during the period. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $882,396,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

About Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.

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