Caxton Associates LLP Buys 6,185 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Caxton Associates LLP increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 60.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,375 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,185 shares during the quarter. Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,604,002,000. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $1,409,320,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Applied Materials by 72.5% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700,349 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $882,396,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Applied Materials by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,573,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $808,853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691,428 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMAT. TD Cowen lifted their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. BNP Paribas raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.74.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $259.21 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $276.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $236.68 and a 200-day moving average of $199.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results 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. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. The company’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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.20%.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.