SSA Swiss Advisors AG bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 17,947 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,597,000.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 3,734 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $607,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Old Port Advisors boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.5% during the first quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 2,730 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.7% during the first quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 1,506 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $218,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down from $225.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen cut Applied Materials from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Barclays set a $170.00 price target on Applied Materials and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.17.
View Our Latest Research Report on AMAT
Applied Materials Stock Performance
Shares of AMAT traded up $0.98 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $189.39. 3,958,519 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,725,215. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $215.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $151.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.69. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $179.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $166.88.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.06% and a return on equity of 40.15%. The business had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. The business's revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.
Applied Materials Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Applied Materials's payout ratio is 22.38%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total value 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. The trade was a 9.59% decrease in their position. The sale 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.
About Applied Materials
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also

Before you consider Applied Materials, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Applied Materials wasn't on the list.
While Applied Materials currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Explore Elon Musk’s boldest ventures yet—from AI and autonomy to space colonization—and find out how investors can ride the next wave of innovation.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.