Arista Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Arista Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,309 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $473,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 150.0% during the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. This represents 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 valued at $2,044,898 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on AMAT. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $275.00 to $390.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Monday, January 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Twenty-four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $315.15.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $330.57 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $289.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $232.84. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $344.60. The firm has a market cap of $262.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.08, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.70. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter 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, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.