Strengthening Families & Communities LLC Makes New $1.32 Million Investment in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Strengthening Families & Communities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 6,447 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,320,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 150.0% in the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $328.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $260.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G 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 fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $344.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $283.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $228.41.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued 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. 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%. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. Analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMAT. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $400.00 in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Twenty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.68.

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.