99,000 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Acquired by Mizuho Markets Americas LLC

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 99,000 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $25,442,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Godsey & Gibb Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,298 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,227 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 4,582 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,178,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Traveka Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 1,404 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AMAT. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $410.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Summit Insights upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, May 15th. Twenty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $465.14.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total transaction of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,753,615. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the sale, the director owned 26,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,003 shares of company stock valued at $2,678,139. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $432.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $342.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.66. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $387.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $326.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.51. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $153.47 and a fifty-two week high of $448.45.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.39 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.91%.

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.