Gryphon Financial Partners LLC Trims Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Gryphon Financial Partners LLC reduced its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 29.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,135 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,327 shares during the quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 679 shares during the period. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 30.1% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after buying an additional 3,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 59.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 422,694 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $77,383,000 after buying an additional 157,426 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

More Applied Materials News

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank raised its FY2026 and FY2027 earnings estimates for Applied Materials and reiterated a Buy rating, signaling confidence in the company’s growth outlook and AI-driven demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials CEO comments reinforcing the AI investment thesis may help support longer-term sentiment around the stock. Article link
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks noted that AMAT has been drawing increased attention from investors, but the piece was mainly a stock-screening update rather than a new fundamental catalyst. Article link
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary suggested Applied Materials may be trading above fair value after a strong multi-year run, which could limit upside even if earnings remain solid. Article link
• Negative Sentiment: A broad semiconductor selloff is pressuring AMAT along with peers like AMD and Intel, as the market rotates out of chip stocks and into other areas. Article link

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Applied Materials from $510.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Seaport Research Partners started coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Monday, May 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price target on the stock. Argus increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $420.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $575.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $593.84.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.28, for a total transaction of $25,264,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 356,642 shares in the company, valued at $180,204,069.76. The trade was a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $599.77, for a total transaction of $5,547,872.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 40,559 shares in the company, valued at $24,326,071.43. The trade was a 18.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 278,088 shares of company stock worth $169,654,805 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $529.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $420.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $533.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $413.05. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $154.46 and a 1-year high of $739.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.18. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The business had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. Analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 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.