Insider Selling: Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) CFO Sells $3,594,375.00 in Stock

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) CFO Brice Hill sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.25, for a total transaction of $3,594,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 128,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,637,780.25. The trade was a 5.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Brice Hill also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, June 3rd, Brice Hill sold 2,500 shares of Applied Materials stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $498.86, for a total value of $1,247,150.00.

Applied Materials Stock Down 4.3%

Applied Materials stock opened at $461.67 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $366.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.80, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $550.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $456.77. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $154.46 and a 12 month high of $739.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 38.02% and a net margin of 30.05%.The firm had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Applied Materials by 70,976.9% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 870,192,678 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $629,149,306,000 after acquiring an additional 868,968,380 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 119.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 32,707,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,405,458,000 after acquiring an additional 17,829,377 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $2,858,543,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 617.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,129,483 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,869,170,000 after purchasing an additional 7,856,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $5,252,863,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMAT. Truist Financial set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $740.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 14th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $700.00 target price (down from $790.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $575.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $657.76.

Key Applied Materials News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Semiconductor and AI demand remains strong: Recent coverage highlights Applied Materials’ $9.12 billion third-quarter revenue, up 25% year over year, and non-GAAP EPS of $3.50, up 41%. Management cited record demand visibility from AI infrastructure, more than 10 new fab projects during the quarter and fourth-quarter revenue guidance of $10.25 billion. The company is also continuing share repurchases and investing $5 billion in its EPIC Center to accelerate semiconductor innovation. The AI Buildout Is Turning Applied Materials Into A Profit Machine
• Positive Sentiment: New board member adds semiconductor expertise: AMAT appointed Akash Palkhiwala, Qualcomm’s CFO and COO, to its board and Audit Committee. His finance, operations and industry experience could strengthen oversight as Applied Materials pursues growth tied to advanced logic, memory and AI chip production. Applied Materials Appoints Akash Palkhiwala to Board of Directors
• Neutral Sentiment: Options market signals elevated uncertainty: A new analysis says options pricing for roughly one year ahead implies a particularly wide potential trading range, extending materially below and above the current level. That suggests investors should expect significant volatility rather than providing a clear directional signal. How Far Applied Materials Stock Can Move In A Year
• Negative Sentiment: CFO share sale may weigh modestly on sentiment: CFO Brice Hill sold 7,500 AMAT shares for approximately $3.6 million, reducing his direct holdings by 5.51%. The sale does not alter the company’s operating outlook, but insider selling can create a limited short-term sentiment overhang. SEC Insider Transaction Filing

About Applied Materials

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.