Farther Finance Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 40.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,648 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,514 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. State Street Corp grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 2.0% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 72.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 13.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,075,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $1,604,002,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. UBS Group raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.78.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $260.60 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $206.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $276.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $243.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $205.47.

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. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. 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%.

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.