Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Boosts Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 799.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,414 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,032 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $4,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. IFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1,008.1% in the second quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 36,156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,619,000 after purchasing an additional 32,893 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 23.0% during the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 12,643 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,315,000 after purchasing an additional 2,363 shares during the last quarter. Sienna Gestion raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 113,221 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $18,924,000 after purchasing an additional 10,468 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 145,277 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,601,000 after buying an additional 35,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in Applied Materials by 13,360.6% during the second quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 694,431 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $127,129,000 after buying an additional 689,272 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $260.60 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $206.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $242.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.08. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $276.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.20%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AMAT. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.78.

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.