Morgan Stanley Raises Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target to $647.00

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Applied Materials from $502 to $647 while keeping an equal weight rating, implying about 7.3% upside from the current share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains constructive overall: Applied Materials has a Moderate Buy consensus, with 27 Buy ratings, one Strong Buy, and seven Holds, and an average price target of $558.09.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $2.86 EPS on $7.91 billion in revenue, while insiders have been selling shares and the stock has been trading near its recent highs.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) had its target price increased by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $502.00 to $647.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the manufacturing equipment provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential upside of 7.29% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $530.00 target price on Applied Materials in a report on Friday, May 15th. HC Wainwright set a $850.00 price target on Applied Materials in a report on Monday, June 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $390.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $420.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $550.00 to $790.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $558.09.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $603.04 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $478.79 billion, a PE ratio of 56.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.80. Applied Materials has a one year low of $154.46 and a one year high of $739.67. The company's fifty day moving average price is $499.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $391.80.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 29.31% and a return on equity of 36.97%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.39 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 12.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 24,263 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.43, for a total value of $14,398,392.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 146,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,184,361.88. This represents a 14.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.28, for a total transaction of $25,264,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 356,642 shares in the company, valued at $180,204,069.76. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 278,088 shares of company stock valued at $169,654,805 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Evolve Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 59.0% during the first quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,875 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,531,000. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 82,296 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $21,149,000 after buying an additional 3,508 shares during the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $1,082,000. Finally, Avity Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 223,211 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $45,700,000 after buying an additional 2,376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Applied Materials Company Profile

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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