Retireful LLC Purchases New Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Retireful LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,434 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $893,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 26.7% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its position in Applied Materials by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after buying an additional 3,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VestGen Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 52.9% during the 2nd quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 4,525 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,565 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMAT. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $315.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.46.

Applied Materials Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $353.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $280.78 billion, a PE ratio of 36.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.64. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $395.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $346.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $279.61.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued 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 company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total transaction of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,753,615. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.