Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Bank of America from $300.00 to $350.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.94% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $285.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $272.79.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.0%

AMAT stock opened at $301.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $310.64. The company has a market cap of $239.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a fifty day moving average of $257.75 and a 200-day moving average of $216.05.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Maseco LLP bought a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. 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.