ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Acquires 3,177 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,234 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,177 shares during the period. Applied Materials makes up approximately 1.0% of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $1,604,002,000. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,409,320,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,397,217 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. KGI Securities upgraded Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $360.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.04.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $369.83 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $376.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $302.65 and its 200-day moving average is $241.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $293.54 billion, a PE ratio of 37.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.70.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Equities analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 9,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,914,628 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% 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.