Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Trading 4.3% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s share price was up 4.3% during trading on Wednesday after Seaport Research Partners upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $432.81 and last traded at $428.62. Approximately 7,182,940 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 0% from the average daily volume of 7,174,761 shares. The stock had previously closed at $410.82.

AMAT has been the subject of a number of other reports. KGI Securities raised Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $450.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Twenty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given 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 target price of $370.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total value of $1,496,392.38. Following the transaction, the director owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,778,624.78. The trade was a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,615. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Acquisition expands AMAT’s AI packaging capabilities — Applied agreed to buy the NEXX business from ASMPT, adding panel?level advanced packaging tools, teams and IP with no regulatory approvals required, strengthening AMAT’s positioning in high?growth AI chip assembly. Applied Materials Expands AI Packaging With NEXX Deal As Stock Surges
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade and higher price target — Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $454 and maintained an Overweight rating, providing institutional support for the stock’s near?term momentum. Read More
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure demand is lifting the whole equipment ecosystem — coverage of semiconductor ETFs (SOXX, SMH, FTXL) highlights accelerating capital spend for AI datacenters and chips; that secular demand benefits AMAT as a key supplier across logic, DRAM and advanced packaging. Semiconductor Leaders SOXX, SMH, and FTXL Are Crushing It on AI Infrastructure Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings track record and guidance support expectations — recent analyst notes highlight AMAT’s history of topping estimates and continued upside from AI?driven demand across its wafer?fab portfolio, underpinning forward EPS expectations. Will Applied Materials (AMAT) Beat Estimates Again?
• Positive Sentiment: Peer results point to sustained demand — recent beats at semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers (Astera Labs, Advanced Energy, Lattice) reinforce a demand backdrop that should flow to AMAT’s bookings. Astera Labs Q1 Earnings Beat Advanced Energy Q1 Earnings Beat Lattice Semiconductor Q1 Earnings Beat
• Neutral Sentiment: Technicals show short?term strength — AMAT recently moved above its 20?day moving average, a short?term bullish signal that can attract momentum traders. Applied Materials Just Overtook the 20?Day Moving Average
• Neutral Sentiment: Company investor engagement — AMAT management will appear at upcoming investor conferences, which can provide fresh detail on orders, margins and the packaging roadmap but are not immediate catalysts. Applied Materials to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences
• Neutral Sentiment: Premium valuation noted — some analysts point out AMAT’s elevated P/S multiple as investors price in AI growth; this supports a bullish case but implies higher expectations that could amplify volatility. Should You Buy, Sell or Hold AMAT Stock at a P/S Valuation of 9.39X?

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 3,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 59.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 422,694 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $77,383,000 after purchasing an additional 157,426 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $369.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $308.46. 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 $340.16 billion, a PE ratio of 43.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.Applied Materials’s revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

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.