J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Boosts Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 171.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 183,080 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 115,657 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $37,484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,707,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.4% in the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 4.0% in the third quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.0% in the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 3,359 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $688,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $275.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $285.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Applied Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $360.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 over the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $319.46 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $333.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $272.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 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 the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.20%.

Applied Materials 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.