Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Sold by Greenleaf Trust

Greenleaf Trust lowered its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 8.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,713 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,444 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $5,469,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $313,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 63.8% in the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 5,834 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $847,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 10.1% during the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,975 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,157,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sciencast Management LP grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 600.6% during the first quarter. Sciencast Management LP now owns 24,983 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,626,000 after acquiring an additional 21,417 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $284.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $225.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $287.74. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $210.43. 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 (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. The firm’s 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 anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors 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 21.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 in the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AMAT. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.78.

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.