Capital Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 4,182 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 47,758 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,182 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Maseco LLP bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter worth $31,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Total Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Kilter Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.78.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $281.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $298.22. The stock has a market cap of $223.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.37.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.67% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 21.20%.

Applied Materials Company 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.