IFP Advisors Inc Buys 8,541 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 58.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,119 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,541 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $11,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 1.6% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 80,212,518 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $57,993,650,000 after buying an additional 1,237,685 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 85.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 69,525,842 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $50,267,184,000 after buying an additional 32,018,892 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 19.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 7,808,207 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,645,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,876 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 16.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,713,599 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,576,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073,879 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter worth about $5,252,863,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $409.29 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $480.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $485.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $324.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.60. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $203.40 and a twelve month high of $739.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 38.02% and a net margin of 30.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.28%.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials opened its $5 billion EPIC Center in Sunnyvale, California, described as the world’s largest semiconductor equipment and process-technology research facility. The investment should strengthen the company’s ability to develop equipment for advanced chips and capitalize on long-term AI and semiconductor capacity growth. Applied Materials opens $5B semiconductor innovation center
• Positive Sentiment: Needham lowered its Applied Materials price target from $740 to $580 but maintained a “buy” rating, indicating that the recent pullback has created what the firm considers meaningful upside. Other recent commentary also highlights AMAT’s broad equipment portfolio and strategic position in semiconductor manufacturing.
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are evaluating whether the current decline could offer an attractive entry point. Historical rebounds after sharp selloffs, continued semiconductor capacity expansion, and expectations for a sales recovery support the longer-term bullish case. Has Buying Applied Materials Stock’s Dips Paid Off?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary is mixed: some reports identify Applied Materials as a growth-at-a-reasonable-price opportunity, while others present a more cautious view of technology stocks. ETF activity has also been inconsistent, with 31 funds adding AMAT on October 13 but ETFs collectively selling shares on October 14.
• Negative Sentiment: Chip-equipment stocks are recording unusually long losing streaks as investors question whether AI-related spending can continue at its current pace. Those sector-wide concerns are currently outweighing the potential benefits of the new research center and are contributing to AMAT’s decline. Chip Equipment Stocks Notch Historic Losing Streaks

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus set a $600.00 price target on Applied Materials and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 26th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $740.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, HC Wainwright set a $850.00 target price on Applied Materials in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $632.70.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, Director Judy Bruner sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $465.00, for a total transaction of $465,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,544 shares in the company, valued at $11,877,960. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $544.56, for a total transaction of $394,806.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,732,245.36. The trade was a 18.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,225 shares of company stock worth $4,454,181. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc is a technology company that supplies equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductors and advanced displays. Its products help customers fabricate the integrated circuits and other components used in computers, mobile devices, data centers, automobiles and a range of connected technologies.

The company’s offerings include systems for materials engineering, wafer fabrication, inspection and process control, along with equipment and services designed to improve manufacturing productivity and yield.