Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Acquired by Praxis Investment Management Inc.

Praxis Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,859 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,043 shares during the period. Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,604,002,000. Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,409,320,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 72.5% during 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 during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $882,396,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Applied Materials by 43.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,573,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $808,853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691,428 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on AMAT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock worth $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $259.21 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $276.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $236.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.20%.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.