Boston Common Asset Management LLC Has $8.54 Million Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Boston Common Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1,263.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 33,212 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,776 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $8,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 225.4% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,877,672 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,046,057,000 after buying an additional 10,305,182 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 617.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,129,483 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,869,170,000 after acquiring an additional 7,856,576 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700,349 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 40.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,520,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,563,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,583,751 shares during the period. Finally, Coatue Management LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at $685,684,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on AMAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.46.

Applied Materials Stock Down 4.2%

AMAT stock opened at $323.12 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week 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 stock has a market capitalization of $256.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.07, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $344.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $277.86.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Company 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.