Synovus Financial Corp Trims Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Synovus Financial Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 44,476 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,559 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,125,265,000 after acquiring an additional 391,540 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,836,807,000 after purchasing an additional 407,282 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 72.5% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,483,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700,349 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,936,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,635,992,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,525 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,604,002,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value 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 approximately $1,127,653.89. The trade was a 12.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total transaction of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 9,609 shares of company stock worth $2,914,628 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.7%

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $376.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. The firm has a market cap of $298.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.70. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $376.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $302.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $241.35.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Susquehanna upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and raised their target price for the company from $180.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Sunday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Summit Insights upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.04.

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.