William Allan Corp Sells 4,062 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

William Allan Corp lowered its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,166 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,062 shares during the period. Applied Materials comprises 5.9% of William Allan Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. William Allan Corp’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $10,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1,008.1% during the second quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 36,156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $6,619,000 after acquiring an additional 32,893 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 23.0% in the second quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 12,643 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,315,000 after acquiring an additional 2,363 shares during the period. Sienna Gestion grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 10.2% during the second quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 113,221 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $18,924,000 after purchasing an additional 10,468 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 145,277 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $26,601,000 after purchasing an additional 35,012 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 13,360.6% in the 2nd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 694,431 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $127,129,000 after purchasing an additional 689,272 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.11.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, 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 have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 6.9%

AMAT stock opened at $301.18 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $302.78. The company has a market capitalization of $238.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $253.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $213.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 21.20%.

Applied Materials Company 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.