Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Decreases Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC cut its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,582 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 18,679 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $17,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the period. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter worth approximately $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 30.1% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 3,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 166,233 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $30,432,000 after acquiring an additional 5,430 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total value of $1,496,392.38. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 28,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,778,624.78. This trade represents a 12.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on AMAT. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. KGI Securities raised shares of Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.46.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT stock opened at $348.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $347.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $282.07. The company has a market capitalization of $276.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.67, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.64. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $395.95.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.70%.

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.