Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Trading 5% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Applied Materials shares jumped about 5% after Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $454 and several other brokers also lifted targets; 27 analysts rate the stock Buy vs. 7 Hold, leaving a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy."
• The company beat Q1 estimates (GAAP EPS $2.38 vs. $2.21 expected; revenue $7.01B vs. $6.88B) and set Q2 FY26 guidance of $2.44–$2.84 EPS, and it raised the quarterly dividend to $0.53 (ex-dividend May 21, payable June 11).
• Insiders have sold 12,003 shares (~$4.48M) in the last 90 days and now own 0.30% of the stock, while institutional investors hold 80.56%, with big stake increases from Vanguard, Capital Research and others.

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 5% on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $432.00 to $454.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Applied Materials traded as high as $414.50 and last traded at $410.82. Approximately 6,282,485 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 7,154,574 shares. The stock had previously closed at $391.38.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AMAT. Susquehanna raised their target price on Applied Materials from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $315.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Twenty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $370.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were 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 owned 4,625 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,753,615. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.4% in 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 buying an additional 330,197 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in 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 worth $8,405,458,000 after acquiring an additional 17,829,377 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $2,563,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,583,751 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,470,835 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,947,891,000 after purchasing an additional 373,012 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth $2,858,543,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 5.0%

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $368.64 and a 200-day moving average of $307.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $326.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.05, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.66. 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 (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.38 earnings per share. The company's 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. Research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials's payout ratio is presently 21.70%.

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.

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