Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Bought by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 220,211 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,958 shares during the period. Applied Materials accounts for approximately 0.8% of Arizona State Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $159,213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. West Family Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 53.1% during the second quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,781,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter worth $168,000. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.1% in the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 29,292 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $21,178,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the period. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the second quarter worth about $201,771,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Applied Materials by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 5,909 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,272,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 4.0%

NASDAQ:AMAT traded up $18.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $472.79. 6,301,680 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,119,141. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $528.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $462.00. The firm has a market cap of $375.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.76, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.60. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.75 and a fifty-two week 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 38.02% and a net margin of 30.05%.Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, insider Prabu Raja sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $633.53, for a total transaction of $6,335,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 346,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,608,106.26. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Timothy M. Deane sold 8,621 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.76, for a total value of $5,092,941.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 134,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,534,609.56. This represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 231,692 shares of company stock valued at $146,114,059 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Craig Hallum boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $530.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $700.00 price target (down from $790.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $658.45.

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.