Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Bought by Aviva PLC

Aviva PLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 695,740 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 35,632 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC owned about 0.09% of Applied Materials worth $178,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Peterson Wealth Services increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 11,160.0% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 1,126 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,427 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 266.8% during the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 11,526 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,962,000 after acquiring an additional 8,384 shares during the last quarter. Sepio Capital LP acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $231,000. Finally, Meiji Yasuda America Inc acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,856,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

More Applied Materials News

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target on Applied Materials, adding to the bullish analyst backdrop and helping reinforce the stock’s upside momentum. Top 5 Strong Buy Stocks to Invest In
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays reiterated an Overweight rating on Applied Materials, citing continued investment in new chip supply and AI infrastructure demand. Applied Materials and KLA Are Surging. Why You Should Buy the Stocks, Says This Analyst.
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials is being highlighted as a key beneficiary of high-bandwidth memory and broader AI hardware spending, which supports long-term semiconductor equipment demand. Applied Materials (AMAT) Is One Of the Best High-Bandwidth Memory Stocks To Buy
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s new $500 million Singapore manufacturing expansion is being viewed as a strategic move to support AI chip demand and expand capacity for future growth. Applied Materials Expands Singapore Manufacturing to Support AI Chip Demand

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $435.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $450.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $390.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Twenty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $483.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $498.86, for a total transaction of $1,247,150.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 136,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,901,331.18. This trade represents a 1.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $434.22, for a total value of $116,370.96. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,280 shares in the company, valued at $1,858,461.60. This trade represents a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 53,896 shares of company stock valued at $27,135,121 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT stock opened at $552.64 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $154.46 and a 12-month high of $557.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $422.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $351.11. The firm has a market cap of $438.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.39 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.02 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.91%.

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.