Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Sold by Gotham Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Gotham Asset Management cut its stake in Applied Materials by 11.2% in Q3, selling 18,591 shares and leaving it with 146,747 shares valued at roughly $30.0 million.
• Several large institutions aggressively increased positions—most notably Capital Research Global Investors added 10.3 million shares (up 225.4%)—and institutional investors now own about 80.56% of the stock.
• Applied beat quarterly expectations (EPS $2.38 vs. $2.21), provided Q2 EPS guidance of 2.440–2.840, and raised the quarterly dividend to $0.53, while insiders sold 12,003 shares (~$4.48M) over the past three months.

Gotham Asset Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 146,747 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 18,591 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $30,045,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,920,984 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $7,125,265,000 after acquiring an additional 391,540 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,046,057,000 after purchasing an additional 10,305,182 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 13,564,120 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,483,183,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700,349 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 40.1% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 42.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 10,978,990 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,247,838,000 after buying an additional 3,280,730 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 138,565 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.71, for a total value of $979,275.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 26,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,219,322.19. This trade represents a 8.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Applied Materials from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. B. Riley Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, February 13th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $363.46.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $346.18 on Tuesday. 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 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $395.95. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $335.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $264.45. The firm has a market cap of $274.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.65.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.78% and a return on equity of 37.52%. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.38 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This is a boost from Applied Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is presently 18.83%.

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.

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