Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Sold by DAVENPORT & Co LLC

DAVENPORT & Co LLC decreased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 6.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,455 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,137 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Applied Materials by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,125,265,000 after purchasing an additional 391,540 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,836,807,000 after buying an additional 407,282 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position 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 valued at $2,483,183,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700,349 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 13.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,936,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,635,992,000 after buying an additional 1,075,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $1,604,002,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. BNP Paribas raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. DZ Bank raised Applied Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade 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 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.1%

AMAT stock opened at $260.60 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $276.10. The stock has a market cap of $206.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $243.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.47.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. Research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 21.20%.

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.