Wealthfront Advisers LLC Cuts Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Wealthfront Advisers LLC decreased its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 99,269 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,444 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $20,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,125,265,000 after purchasing an additional 391,540 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,836,807,000 after acquiring an additional 407,282 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,483,183,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700,349 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 13.7% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,936,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,635,992,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth approximately $1,604,002,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Trading Up 2.5%

AMAT stock opened at $330.57 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $344.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $289.58 and its 200 day moving average is $232.84. The company has a market capitalization of $262.38 billion, a PE ratio of 38.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.70. 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 (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. The business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho set a $370.00 target price on Applied Materials and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $273.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Twenty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $315.15.

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.