Pettee Investors Inc. Purchases 1,886 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Pettee Investors Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 83.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,136 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the period. Pettee Investors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $847,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Processus Wealth & Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.1% during the third quarter. Processus Wealth & Capital Management LLC now owns 18,328 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,753,000 after acquiring an additional 892 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.5% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 17,530 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,589,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the period. Win Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,109,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 14,230 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587 shares during the period. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $273.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. BNP Paribas Exane raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Twenty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.68.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.9%

Applied Materials stock opened at $328.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $260.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $283.10 and a 200-day moving average of $228.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.87. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year high of $344.60.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its 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. 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 prior year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. Applied Materials’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. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 21.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.