WCG Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Key Points

• WCG Wealth Advisors LLC has acquired a $1.67 million stake in Applied Materials, purchasing 11,535 shares in the first quarter.
• Applied Materials' recent earnings exceeded expectations, with a reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter against a consensus estimate of $2.36.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46, yielding 1.1%, with the payment set for September 11th to investors of record on August 21st.

WCG Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 11,535 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,674,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at $1,085,600,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2,401.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $445,056,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944,193 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 18,402.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,824,304 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $2,647,430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,814,444 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 43.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,573,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $808,853,000 after acquiring an additional 1,691,428 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,663,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,602,645 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $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 available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. B. Riley reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $215.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Monday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $193.88.

Applied Materials Stock Down 2.7%

Applied Materials stock traded down $4.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $160.76. 7,198,461 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,237,243. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.50. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $215.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $182.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $165.36. The company has a market cap of $128.07 billion, a PE ratio of 19.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.70.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The company had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. As a group, analysts expect 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, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. 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.