My Personal CFO LLC Makes New Investment in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

My Personal CFO LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,841 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,501,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,125,265,000 after buying an additional 391,540 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 225.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,877,672 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,046,057,000 after acquiring an additional 10,305,182 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 5,700,349 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials by 40.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,520,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,563,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,583,751 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 42.6% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 10,978,990 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,247,838,000 after purchasing an additional 3,280,730 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Trading Up 5.8%

AMAT stock opened at $341.79 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $395.95. The company has a market cap of $271.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.98, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a fifty day moving average of $345.44 and a 200-day moving average of $279.09.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.83%.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total transaction of $979,275.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 26,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,219,322.19. This represents a 8.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AMAT. UBS Group set a $430.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.46.

Applied Materials Company 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.