Integrity Alliance LLC. Takes $418,000 Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Key Points

• Integrity Alliance LLC has acquired a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. valued at approximately $418,000, indicating growing institutional interest in the company.
• A number of analysts recently revised their price targets for Applied Materials, with consensus ratings indicating a "Hold" and an average price target of $192.92.
• Applied Materials announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share, which will be paid to shareholders on December 11th, representing an annual yield of 1.1%.

Integrity Alliance LLC. bought a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,880 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $418,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Skye Global Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $45,862,000. Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 9,896 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,608,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at $230,000. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 12.7% in the first quarter. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych now owns 26,650 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $3,867,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 311.2% in the first quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 12,924 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,876,000 after acquiring an additional 9,781 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AMAT. Daiwa Capital Markets reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $170.00 price target (down from $185.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $180.00 price target (down from $190.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Mizuho reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $175.00 price target (down from $200.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $209.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $192.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.4%

Applied Materials stock opened at $167.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The company has a market capitalization of $133.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.77. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year high of $215.70. The company's fifty day moving average price is $177.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $164.72.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. Applied Materials's dividend 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.

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