Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Grows Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 30.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 91,755 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,539 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $18,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,975 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,157,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the 1st quarter worth approximately $281,000. SCS Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter valued at $246,000. Finally, Glenview Trust co boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 32,744 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,752,000 after buying an additional 2,109 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AMAT. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $281.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $223.32 billion, a PE ratio of 32.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $298.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $252.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.37. 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 (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors 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 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.20%.

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.