Yousif Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 6.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 95,442 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 6,653 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $19,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 131,670 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,100 shares during the period. Alpha Wealth Funds LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 169.2% during the third quarter. Alpha Wealth Funds LLC now owns 3,500 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $717,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 40.5% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 15,648 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,204,000 after purchasing an additional 4,514 shares during the last quarter. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 19.0% in the third quarter. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. now owns 2,486 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Precedent Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter worth about $233,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.78.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $259.01 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $241.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $204.04. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $276.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $205.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.67.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.20%.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials 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.