Somerville Kurt F Boosts Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Somerville Kurt F grew its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 295.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,424 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,013 shares during the quarter. Somerville Kurt F’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,604,002,000. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,409,320,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 72.5% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,483,183,000 after buying an additional 5,700,349 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1,704.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,439,598 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $499,483,000 after buying an additional 2,304,369 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 417.3% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,732,015 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,053,000 after buying an additional 1,397,217 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In related news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 9,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,914,628 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Summit Insights raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Applied Materials from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.04.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock traded up $5.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $375.46. 876,253 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,181,623. The company has a market cap of $298.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.70. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $376.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $302.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.94.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.38 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.83%.

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.