Willis Investment Counsel Has $12.21 Million Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Willis Investment Counsel cut its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 59,633 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 51,621 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $12,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,340 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,707,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1.4% during the third quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 4.0% during the third quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 1,741 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Everpar Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 3,359 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $405.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $385.00 price objective on the stock. Twenty-four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $311.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total value of $155,617.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,127,653.89. This represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total transaction of $952,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,351 shares in the company, valued at $20,095,782.24. The trade was a 4.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 5.8%

AMAT opened at $321.60 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $344.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.26 billion, a PE ratio of 36.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The company’s 50-day moving average is $286.66 and its 200 day moving average is $230.31.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 21.20%.

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.