Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Stake Boosted by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,305 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $9,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter worth approximately $1,085,600,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2,401.0% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $445,056,000 after buying an additional 2,944,193 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 18,402.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,824,304 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,647,430,000 after buying an additional 1,814,444 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 43.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,573,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $808,853,000 after buying an additional 1,691,428 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 23.6% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,860,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,140,836,000 after buying an additional 1,502,995 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total transaction of $100,373.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $946,580. This represents a 9.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Applied Materials from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded Applied Materials from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Summit Insights downgraded Applied Materials from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Daiwa America downgraded Applied Materials from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $193.88.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT opened at $157.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $125.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.76. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $215.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $181.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $165.12.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $7.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.96% and a net margin of 23.88%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. Research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is 21.93%.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits.

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