Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Purchased by Stiles Financial Services Inc

Stiles Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,436 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,920 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,137,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Marquette Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Down 2.7%

AMAT stock opened at $318.23 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $265.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $220.06. The company has a market capitalization of $252.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.66, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $331.00.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. DZ Bank raised Applied Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. TD Cowen increased their price objective 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. Mizuho set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $285.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.89.

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.