Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Buys 254,000 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 97.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 514,000 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 254,000 shares during the period. Applied Materials accounts for approximately 1.1% of Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Applied Materials worth $132,093,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 48.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 150.0% during the third quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 125 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Optima Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Applied Materials from $350.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $390.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.29.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.7%

AMAT stock opened at $394.33 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $362.41 and its 200 day moving average is $298.25. The stock has a market cap of $312.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.64. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $136.32 and a 1-year high of $407.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was down 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.38 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 11.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total value of $202,471.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 4,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This represents a 3.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.