Insider Selling: Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) CAO Sells 268 Shares of Stock

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) CAO Adam Sanders sold 268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $434.22, for a total transaction of $116,370.96. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,858,461.60. The trade was a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT traded up $22.73 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $454.89. 8,042,874 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,357,380. The company has a market capitalization of $361.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.66. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $153.47 and a 12 month high of $456.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $388.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $328.11.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 19.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMAT. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Applied Materials by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,101,772 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $635,057,000 after buying an additional 145,050 shares during the last quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan grew its stake in Applied Materials by 82.2% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 26,893 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,512,000 after buying an additional 12,132 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in Applied Materials by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 96,712 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,801,000 after buying an additional 17,288 shares during the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $1,531,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors grew its stake in Applied Materials by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 82,296 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $21,149,000 after buying an additional 3,508 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Summit Insights upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. KGI Securities upgraded shares of Applied Materials to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $525.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $420.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Twenty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $465.14.

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.