Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Acquires 353,250 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. by 40.5%, purchasing an additional 353,250 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 1.2 million shares valued at $177.98 million.
• Several institutional investors significantly boosted their holdings in Applied Materials, including Pacer Advisors Inc. and GAMMA Investing LLC, which raised their stakes by over 2,400% and 18,400% respectively in the first quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings for Applied Materials, with an average target price of $193.88, and a notable decrease in price targets from multiple firms, indicating cautious sentiment about future stock performance.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 40.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,226,404 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 353,250 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.15% of Applied Materials worth $177,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AMAT. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,860,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,140,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,995 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth about $1,085,600,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,189,402 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,043,326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,097 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 43.6% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 1,691,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 4,993,172 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $724,609,000 after purchasing an additional 280,955 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total transaction of $100,373.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $946,580. This represents a 9.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Summit Insights cut shares of Applied Materials from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 15th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $193.88.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock traded down $3.64 on Tuesday, reaching $157.12. 4,570,808 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,386,472. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $215.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $181.92 and a 200 day moving average of $165.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.16 billion, a PE ratio of 18.72, a PEG 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 (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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The firm had revenue of $7.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.93%.

About Applied Materials

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.