Profund Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Profund Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,916 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,490 shares during the period. Applied Materials comprises about 0.9% of Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $30,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 679 shares in the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 3,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 157,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $530.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $400.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $502.00 price objective (up from $454.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday. Twenty-six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $463.89.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total transaction of $202,471.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 28,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,778,624.78. The trade was a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,003 shares of company stock worth $2,678,139. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 5.3%

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $413.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $328.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.83, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.66. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.47 and a 1-year high of $448.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $380.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $321.37.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 29.31% and a return on equity of 36.97%. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.39 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.28 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 17.28%.

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.