AGF Management Ltd. Purchases 11,060 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

AGF Management Ltd. increased its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 137.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,099 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,060 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,707,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on AMAT. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $390.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Applied Materials from $273.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $285.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Twenty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.68.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT stock opened at $318.67 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $284.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $229.32. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $344.60. The firm has a market cap of $252.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.71, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.70.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $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 year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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

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.