2,500 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Acquired by Corient IA LLC

Key Points

• Corient IA LLC acquired 2,500 shares of Applied Materials, Inc. ($AMAT) for approximately $363,000 in the first quarter, according to SEC filings.
• Several hedge funds, including Eagle Capital Management and Brighton Jones LLC, have increased their holdings in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter.
• Applied Materials recently reported earnings that exceeded estimates, with a net margin of 23.88% and quarterly revenue of $7.30 billion, reflecting a 7.7% increase year-over-year.

Corient IA LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,500 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth $1,085,600,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 2,401.0% during the 1st 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 raised its stake in Applied Materials by 18,402.1% during the 1st 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. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,663,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,602,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 301.6% in the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 1,959,997 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $318,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,471,953 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Wall Street Zen cut Applied Materials from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. Cfra Research raised Applied Materials to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut their price target on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $193.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 owned 5,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at $946,580. This trade represents a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT traded down $1.7420 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $160.4780. 7,094,175 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,422,733. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.46. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $215.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $183.83 and a 200-day moving average of $166.39. The stock has a market cap of $128.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.70.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 41.31%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials's payout ratio is presently 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.