Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Position Increased by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 84.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,266 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,495 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $839,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 6.9% during the third quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,511 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $55,180,000 after buying an additional 17,397 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Applied Materials by 4.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,101,772 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $635,057,000 after buying an additional 145,050 shares during the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan increased its position in Applied Materials by 82.2% during the third quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 26,893 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,512,000 after buying an additional 12,132 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in Applied Materials by 21.8% during the third quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 96,712 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $19,801,000 after buying an additional 17,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth $1,531,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 26,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,219,322.19. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,003 shares of company stock worth $2,678,139. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $530.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $435.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $440.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. DZ Bank raised shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $435.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $465.14.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $432.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $342.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $387.09 and its 200-day moving average is $326.06. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $153.47 and a 52-week high of $448.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.39 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.53 dividend. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.91%.

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.