AGF Management Ltd. Acquires 11,060 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

AGF Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 137.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,099 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,060 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at $410,000. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 11.2% in the second quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 4,705 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at $365,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AMAT shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $285.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Twenty-four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.68.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of Applied Materials 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 have sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT opened at $318.67 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $284.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $252.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.71, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.70. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $344.60.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company 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 forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.