Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 33.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,870 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,512 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 3.0% in the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.5% during the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 0.8% during the second quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 3,359 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $688,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 over the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.0%

AMAT opened at $301.89 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $310.64. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $257.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.05. The company has a market cap of $239.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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%.Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho set a $275.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a report on Friday, January 9th. Susquehanna raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $400.00 in a report on Sunday. Finally, UBS Group raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $272.79.

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.