Maxele Advisors LLC Makes New $911,000 Investment in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Maxele Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 4,450 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $911,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 150.0% during the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.4%

AMAT stock opened at $346.18 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $335.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $264.45. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $395.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm has a market cap of $274.73 billion, a PE ratio of 35.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,615. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMAT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” 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 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $363.46.

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.