Markel Group Inc. Grows Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Markel Group Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 59.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,250 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,750 shares during the quarter. Markel Group Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $5,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,604,002,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,409,320,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Applied Materials by 72.5% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,483,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700,349 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1,704.0% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,439,598 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $499,483,000 after buying an additional 2,304,369 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 417.3% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,732,015 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,053,000 after buying an additional 1,397,217 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $319.46 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $272.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.62. 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 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $333.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.31 billion, a PE ratio of 36.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 business’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 owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMAT. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Susquehanna upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Sunday, January 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.75.

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.