Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Price Target Raised to $485.00 at B. Riley Financial

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its target price hoisted by B. Riley Financial from $450.00 to $485.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on AMAT. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $350.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.29.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $395.72 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $314.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.64. Applied Materials has a 1 year low of $132.80 and a 1 year high of $407.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $353.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $290.57.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total transaction of $1,496,392.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,778,624.78. The trade was a 12.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,051,063.65. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Old North State Trust LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $240,000. Forty three Eighteen Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $2,533,000. Fund Advisors of America Inc FL purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $316,000. World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 82,296 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $21,149,000 after purchasing an additional 3,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $562,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

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.