Sycomore Asset Management Acquires New Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Sycomore Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 22,252 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,664,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 30.1% during 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, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 47,454 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,687,000 after buying an additional 6,368 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $352.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $279.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $265.80. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $395.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $2.38 earnings per share. The firm’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. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.53 dividend. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 18.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. DZ Bank raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Susquehanna raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Sunday, January 11th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $363.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.