Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price Target Lowered at Needham & Company LLC

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $740.00 to $580.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 34.88% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $720.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $683.00 to $641.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $632.70.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $430.01 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Applied Materials has a twelve month low of $203.40 and a twelve month high of $739.67. The company has a market cap of $341.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $483.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $485.62.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.99 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 38.02% and a net margin of 30.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, Director Judy Bruner sold 1,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $465.00, for a total transaction of $465,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,877,960. The trade was a 3.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $479.25, for a total value of $3,594,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 128,613 shares in the company, valued at $61,637,780.25. This trade represents a 5.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 9,225 shares of company stock valued at $4,454,181 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Innovative Asset Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Innovative Asset Advisors Group LLC now owns 961 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.1% during the second quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 5.9% during the second quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 377 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 13.0% during the second quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 183 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Applied Materials News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials opened its $5 billion EPIC Center in Sunnyvale, California. The facility is described as the world’s largest semiconductor equipment and process-technology research and development center, potentially strengthening the company’s innovation pipeline and customer relationships. Applied Materials opens $5B semiconductor innovation center
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its “Outperform” rating and set a $600 price target, while other coverage points to roughly 39% potential upside. Analysts also cited positive earnings-estimate revisions and strong semiconductor demand. Wall Street Analysts Think Applied Materials Could Surge
• Positive Sentiment: RBC characterized Applied Materials’ 2030 margin targets as conservative relative to demand trends, supporting the view that long-term profitability could improve. The company’s latest reported quarter also included revenue growth of 24.8% and an EPS beat.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent articles compare AMAT favorably with ASML and Broadcom, highlighting its broad wafer-fabrication equipment portfolio and exposure to semiconductor capacity expansion. These are longer-term positioning arguments rather than new financial catalysts. ASML vs. Applied Materials
• Neutral Sentiment: Applied Materials was identified as a growth-at-a-reasonable-price stock, and 31 exchange-traded funds added exposure on October 13. These signals may provide support but do not establish a near-term earnings catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock declined more than the broader market in the latest reported session and has dropped sharply over the past several weeks. Coverage suggests investors remain concerned about the timing of the semiconductor-equipment sales recovery, even though historical pullbacks have sometimes been followed by rebounds.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst opinion is mixed, and the EPIC Center announcement did not prevent further selling. With AMAT trading well below its recent highs and valuation still elevated at about 37 times earnings, investors appear to be discounting execution and cyclical risks.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a global supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat-panel displays and other advanced electronic products. Its technologies help customers build and enhance materials at the nanoscale, supporting processes such as deposition, etching, inspection, metrology and packaging.

The company’s offerings include semiconductor manufacturing systems, process-control and inspection equipment, and services designed to improve the performance, productivity and longevity of production equipment.