New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $132.93 Million Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 649,270 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 14,471 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.08% of Applied Materials worth $132,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the period. SCS Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $246,000. Integrity Alliance LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth approximately $418,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 200.5% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 117,407 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $17,038,000 after buying an additional 78,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 12.6% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 4,204 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $610,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $255.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday. Finally, Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $250.11.

Applied Materials Stock Up 6.9%

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $301.18 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $238.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The business has a 50-day moving average of $253.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $213.50. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $302.78.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.