First National Advisers LLC Takes $204,000 Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

First National Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFG Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1,008.1% in the 2nd quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 36,156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,619,000 after buying an additional 32,893 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 23.0% in the second quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 12,643 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,315,000 after acquiring an additional 2,363 shares in the last quarter. Sienna Gestion grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 10.2% during the second quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 113,221 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $18,924,000 after purchasing an additional 10,468 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 31.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 145,277 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $26,601,000 after purchasing an additional 35,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 13,360.6% during the second quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 694,431 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $127,129,000 after purchasing an additional 689,272 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. BNP Paribas raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. DZ Bank raised shares of Applied Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $228.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. This represents a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.8%

AMAT stock opened at $252.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.77 billion, a PE ratio of 30.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $224.86 and a 200-day moving average of $192.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.50. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year high of $252.66.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.20%.

About Applied Materials

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.