Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Acquired by Zhang Financial LLC

Zhang Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,939 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,543 shares during the quarter. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,059,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. State Street Corp raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,125,265,000 after purchasing an additional 391,540 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,836,807,000 after buying an additional 407,282 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings 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 worth $2,483,183,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700,349 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 13.7% in the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,604,002,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $377.93 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $309.60 and its 200-day moving average is $246.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. The company has a market cap of $299.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.68, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.70. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $380.51.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 10,112 shares of company stock worth $3,660,532 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMAT. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 target price on Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.04.

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.