Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Purchased by Bill Few Associates Inc.

Bill Few Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,391 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,026 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials comprises about 1.0% of Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Maseco LLP acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its stake in Applied Materials by 5,325.0% in the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMAT. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. TD Cowen increased their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. DZ Bank raised Applied Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $261.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $244.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $206.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $276.10.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders 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 dividend 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.