Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Acquires 1,851 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 151.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,074 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,851 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,707,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 657 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 4.0% during the third quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.0% in the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on AMAT. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Summit Insights upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Applied Materials from $420.00 to $432.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.46.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $351.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. The company has a 50-day moving average of $321.39 and a 200-day moving average of $253.00. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $395.95. The company has a market capitalization of $278.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.95, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.65.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the sale, the director owned 26,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% 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 three months. Company 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.