Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Increases Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 30.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,755 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,539 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $18,786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 10.1% in the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,975 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,157,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at $281,000. SCS Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter valued at $246,000. Finally, Glenview Trust co increased its position in Applied Materials by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 32,744 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,752,000 after purchasing an additional 2,109 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 14th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Applied Materials from $255.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.78.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $281.64 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $298.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $223.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $252.29 and its 200 day moving average is $212.37.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The business 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 company posted $2.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 21.20%.

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.