Cerity Partners LLC Reduces Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Cerity Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 26.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 197,634 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 70,945 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $40,464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $1,604,002,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at about $1,409,320,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after buying an additional 5,700,349 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $882,396,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1,704.0% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,439,598 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $499,483,000 after buying an additional 2,304,369 shares during the period. 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. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. B. Riley increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $246.78.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 over the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $281.64 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.37. The firm has a market cap of $223.32 billion, a PE ratio of 32.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $298.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 39.26%. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.20%.

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.