Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Lowers Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR lowered its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 25.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 50,151 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 16,813 shares during the quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $10,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maseco LLP purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 68.9% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 179 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Craig Hallum reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.78.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $256.99 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $276.10. The stock has a market cap of $203.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.67. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $246.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $208.50.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.