DAVENPORT & Co LLC Reduces Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lowered its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,455 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,137 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.2% during the third quarter. Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC now owns 5,104 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 37.7% during the third quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,859 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $410,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Ellenbecker Investment Group purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the third quarter worth $228,000. Finally, True North Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. True North Advisors LLC now owns 7,821 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,601,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, 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 value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was 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 approximately $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMAT. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. BNP Paribas upgraded Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $246.78.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $260.60 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $243.53 and its 200 day moving average is $205.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.64 billion, a PE ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.61. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $276.10.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. 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. On average, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.