Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Bought by Foster & Motley Inc.

Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,781 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,598 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter worth approximately $281,000. SCS Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter worth approximately $246,000. Finally, Glenview Trust co boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 32,744 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,752,000 after purchasing an additional 2,109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Craig Hallum restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.78.

Applied Materials Stock Down 3.6%

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $281.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $223.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year high of $298.22. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.37. 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 (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. 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 in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. The firm’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. Sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $155,617.77. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 over the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.