Providence Capital Advisors LLC Has $7.90 Million Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 10.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,600 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials accounts for about 1.4% of Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $7,903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $32,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada started coverage on Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $385.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $275.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Craig Hallum restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. Twenty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $315.15.

Applied Materials Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $330.57 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $344.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.61. The company has a market capitalization of $262.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $289.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.84.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.