Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Trading Up 1.5% – What’s Next?

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares were up 1.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $353.00 and last traded at $351.07. Approximately 4,492,782 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 8,061,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $345.88.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Partnership with Micron to co-develop AI‑focused memory technologies — boosts Applied’s addressable market for memory equipment and leverages its $5B EPIC Center R&D hub. Applied Materials and Micron Partner To Advance U.S. Innovation in Next-Generation AI Memory Solutions
• Positive Sentiment: Long‑term R&D collaboration with SK hynix to accelerate advanced DRAM and high‑bandwidth memory development — validates demand for Applied’s process, materials and 3D packaging tools critical to AI compute scaling. Applied Materials and SK Hynix partner for next-gen AI memory development
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlights AMAT as a winner in the AI trade despite broader sector and ETF weakness — supporting momentum flows into the stock. AMAT and Micron still winning in AI trade despite QQQ and sector weakness
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage update: Erste Group initiated AMAT with a Hold, which may temper upside expectations until more visible order cadence/revenue from these partnerships appears. Erste Group Initiated Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) With a Hold Rating – Here’s Why
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at Cantor conference (transcript available) — useful for modeling management’s cadence and margin outlook but not an immediate catalyst. Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) Presents at 2026 Cantor Global Technology & Industrial Growth Conference Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term stock pullback/volatility: coverage and commentary point to recent profit‑taking and a short-term slide from recent highs despite strong free cash flow — a reminder of valuation sensitivity for a high‑growth cyclical. Applied Materials Q1 2026 Free Cash Flow Hit $1.04 Billion, So Why Is the Stock Sliding

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMAT. KGI Securities raised Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America increased their target price on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Craig Hallum reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.46.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.5%

The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $278.61 billion, a PE ratio of 35.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $329.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $259.38.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,753,615. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 119.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 32,707,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $8,405,458,000 after purchasing an additional 17,829,377 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth $2,858,543,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 617.2% in 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 worth $1,869,170,000 after purchasing an additional 7,856,576 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $1,409,320,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Applied Materials by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,483,183,000 after buying an additional 5,700,349 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by 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.