Boothbay Fund Management LLC Purchases Shares of 13,524 Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Boothbay Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 13,524 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,769,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 3,469 shares during the period. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 8.3% during the second quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,962 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,091,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $346.18 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $395.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The business’s 50 day moving average is $335.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $274.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on AMAT. BNP Paribas Exane raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. KGI Securities raised Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $420.00 to $432.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total transaction of $1,496,392.38. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,778,624.78. This represents a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.