Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-four ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twenty-one have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $246.7778.

AMAT has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th.

Applied Materials Stock Up 4.6%

AMAT opened at $268.87 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $247.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $209.65. Applied Materials has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $276.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $213.20 billion, a PE ratio of 30.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 21.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Applied Materials by 225.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,877,672 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,046,057,000 after purchasing an additional 10,305,182 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,604,002,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 617.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,129,483 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,869,170,000 after purchasing an additional 7,856,576 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at about $1,409,320,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 72.5% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after buying an additional 5,700,349 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.