ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Purchases 3,177 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd grew its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,234 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,177 shares during the period. Applied Materials makes up 1.0% of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,707,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. REAP Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 657 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Welch Group LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $369.83 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $376.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $293.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $302.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $241.35.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,609 shares of company stock worth $2,914,628. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. DZ Bank raised shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, KGI Securities raised Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $363.04.

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.