SGL Investment Advisors Inc. Buys 1,183 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

SGL Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 37.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,372 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. SGL Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 3,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 59.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 422,694 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $77,383,000 after acquiring an additional 157,426 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMAT. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Applied Materials from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on Applied Materials from $420.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Applied Materials from $550.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Twenty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $465.14.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $432.16 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $153.47 and a twelve month high of $448.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $387.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $326.06. The company has a market cap of $342.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.66.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The firm had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.39 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 19.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total transaction of $1,496,392.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 28,589 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,778,624.78. This represents a 12.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This trade represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,003 shares of company stock valued at $2,678,139. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.