Adam Sanders Sells 609 Shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT stock opened at $269.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $214.65 billion, a PE ratio of 31.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.67. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $229.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $195.00. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $272.76.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 21.20%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. Daiwa America lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. UBS Group upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $250.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.74.

About Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.