Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Stake Cut by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR cut its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 6.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,293 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,827 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $7,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,125,265,000 after purchasing an additional 391,540 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,836,807,000 after buying an additional 407,282 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 72.5% in the 2nd 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. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,936,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,635,992,000 after buying an additional 1,075,525 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,604,002,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 over the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $272.79.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $301.89 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $310.64. 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 50 day moving average price of $257.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $216.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.67.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.20%.

Applied Materials Company Profile

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.