Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,870 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,512 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Argentarii LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 29.2% during the third quarter. Argentarii LLC now owns 3,450 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $706,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. One Day In July LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $217,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 15.4% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 21,196 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,340,000 after acquiring an additional 2,830 shares in the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.5% during the third quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd now owns 6,327 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,295,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.9% during the third quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 36,000 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $301.89 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $257.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $216.05. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $310.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $239.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.78, a PEG ratio of 3.15 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 the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 21.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Twenty-two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $272.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.