Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT is Harbor Island Capital LLC's 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Harbor Island Capital LLC cut its stake in Applied Materials by 9.8% in Q4 to 129,527 shares (worth $33.29M), with AMAT representing about 12.8% of the firm's portfolio and its second-largest holding.
• Several large institutions aggressively increased exposure—e.g., Capital Research Global Investors (+225% to 14.88M shares) and UBS (+617% to 9.13M shares)—leaving institutional ownership at 80.56%.
• Wall Street has lifted targets (Goldman Sachs to $390, Stifel and KeyCorp to $450) giving a consensus "Moderate Buy" price target of $368.29, while Applied Materials recently beat quarterly EPS/revenue estimates and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.53.

Harbor Island Capital LLC lowered its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 9.8% 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 129,527 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 14,103 shares during the period. Applied Materials makes up approximately 12.8% of Harbor Island Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Harbor Island Capital LLC's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $33,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Applied Materials by 225.4% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 14,877,672 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $3,046,057,000 after acquiring an additional 10,305,182 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 40.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,520,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,563,376,000 after purchasing an additional 3,583,751 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 42.6% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 10,978,990 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,247,838,000 after purchasing an additional 3,280,730 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 19.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,552,132 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,160,443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 617.2% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $340.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Applied Materials to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $368.29.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $395.72 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $353.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $290.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.71. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.80 and a fifty-two week high of $407.29. The company has a market capitalization of $314.04 billion, a PE ratio of 40.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.64.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. Applied Materials's revenue was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This is a positive change from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is 21.70%.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, Director Judy Bruner sold 3,969 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.02, for a total transaction of $1,496,392.38. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 28,589 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,778,624.78. This trade represents a 12.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $1,753,615. The trade was a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials 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.

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