Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Purchased by HB Wealth Management LLC

HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 15.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,183 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,378 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.0% during the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Shelton Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,135,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 3,359 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $688,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Mizuho increased their price target on Applied Materials from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $246.78.

Applied Materials Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $281.64 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $298.22. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $252.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.37. The company has a market capitalization of $223.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 21.20%.

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.