Vestcor Inc Trims Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Vestcor Inc lessened its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,743 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,595 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $4,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,125,265,000 after buying an additional 391,540 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,026,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,836,807,000 after buying an additional 407,282 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 72.5% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,483,183,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700,349 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 13.7% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 8,936,363 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,635,992,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,604,002,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Craig Hallum reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $363.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total transaction of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 26,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. The trade was a 8.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock worth $4,484,189 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $338.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $395.95. The company has a market capitalization of $268.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $327.82 and a 200 day moving average of $258.09.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 18.83%.

Applied Materials 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.