Farther Finance Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,648 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,514 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Maseco LLP purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $30,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 5,325.0% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $260.60 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $243.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $205.47. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $276.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given 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 payout ratio is 21.20%.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of Applied Materials 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 approximately $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company 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.