Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Sells 58,288 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. cut its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 36.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 100,956 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 58,288 shares during the quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $20,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Maseco LLP bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 5,325.0% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $261.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $207.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $276.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $244.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.34. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.20%.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of Applied Materials 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on AMAT. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $246.78.

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.