Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Grows Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 60.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,650 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,750 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 10,305,182 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 617.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,129,483 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,869,170,000 after buying an additional 7,856,576 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,520,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,563,376,000 after buying an additional 3,583,751 shares during the last quarter. Coatue Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $685,684,000. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 42.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 10,978,990 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,247,838,000 after buying an additional 3,280,730 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AMAT shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Barclays raised 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. DZ Bank upgraded Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Summit Insights upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $465.14.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 26,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT stock opened at $432.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $342.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.66. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $153.47 and a 1 year high of $448.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $388.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $328.11.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 19.91%.

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.