U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 2,252 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 36.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,437 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,252 shares during the quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,275,000. Dara Capital US Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,279,000. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Fortune Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,997 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,340,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Successful Portfolios LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Successful Portfolios LLC now owns 7,772 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after acquiring an additional 1,520 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $397.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $353.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $315.22 billion, a PE ratio of 40.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.64. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.80 and a 52-week high of $407.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.38 earnings per share. The business’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. Analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at $50,051,063.65. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on AMAT. KeyCorp increased their target price on Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, March 27th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.29.

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.