Phoenix Financial Ltd. Has $12.49 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Phoenix Financial Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 31.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 61,004 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,691 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $12,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $1,604,002,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $1,409,320,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700,349 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1,704.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,439,598 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $499,483,000 after purchasing an additional 2,304,369 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 417.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,397,217 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $319.46 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.62. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $333.03. The company has a market cap of $253.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.67.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm 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 yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 21.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Barclays raised Applied Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $360.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Susquehanna upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $400.00 in a report on Sunday, January 11th. Mizuho set a $275.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $250.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.75.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.