National Pension Service Acquires 9,763 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,962,051 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,763 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials accounts for approximately 0.9% of National Pension Service’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. National Pension Service’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,418,563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Applied Materials by 70,976.9% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 870,192,678 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $629,149,306,000 after acquiring an additional 868,968,380 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 119.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 32,707,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $8,405,458,000 after acquiring an additional 17,829,377 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth $2,858,543,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 617.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,129,483 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,869,170,000 after purchasing an additional 7,856,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at about $5,252,863,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.53, for a total transaction of $6,335,300.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 346,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,608,106.26. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $599.77, for a total transaction of $5,547,872.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 40,559 shares in the company, valued at $24,326,071.43. The trade was a 18.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 231,692 shares of company stock worth $146,114,059 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.8%

Applied Materials stock opened at $468.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.42. The stock has a market cap of $372.08 billion, a PE ratio of 40.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $519.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $463.43. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $162.55 and a one year high of $739.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 38.02% and a net margin of 30.05%.The business had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AMAT shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $510.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Raymond James Financial set a $650.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Zacks Research raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $515.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Argus set a $600.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.45.

About Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc is a global provider of materials engineering solutions used to manufacture semiconductors, displays and other advanced electronic products. The company develops and supplies equipment, services and software that help customers build and improve the performance of chips and display panels.

Its semiconductor products support processes including deposition, etch, patterning, inspection, metrology and materials modification. Applied Materials also provides equipment and services for display manufacturing, including technologies used in producing liquid-crystal and organic light-emitting diode displays, as well as solutions for adjacent markets such as solar and other specialty applications.

Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Applied Materials serves semiconductor and display manufacturers worldwide through operations, customer-support centers and research and development activities across major technology-producing regions.