Benjamin Edwards Inc. Acquires 6,338 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 16.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,026 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,338 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Maseco LLP purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Total Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter worth $36,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DZ Bank raised shares of Applied Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Bank of America upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.78.

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 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the firm’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 value of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $281.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $223.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $298.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.87.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 39.26%. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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 is currently 21.20%.

About Applied Materials

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.