SP Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

SP Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 66.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,899 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 38,842 shares during the quarter. SP Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $4,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $328.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $283.10 and a 200-day moving average of $228.41. The company has a market cap of $260.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.61. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $344.60.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 21.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on AMAT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, January 9th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $405.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Monday. Twenty-four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.