William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 1,325.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 497,946 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 463,006 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials comprises 1.1% of William Blair Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Applied Materials worth $360,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 80,212,518 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $57,993,650,000 after buying an additional 1,237,685 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 119.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 32,707,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $8,405,458,000 after acquiring an additional 17,829,377 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,470,835 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,947,891,000 after acquiring an additional 373,012 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth $2,858,543,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 10,688,232 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,746,769,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,749 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
AMAT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $646.00 to $642.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 14th. HSBC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $683.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Monday, July 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating and issued a $605.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 14th. William Blair started coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Applied Materials from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $659.83.
View Our Latest Research Report on Applied Materials
Insider Activity at Applied Materials
In related news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.28, for a total value of $25,264,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 356,642 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $180,204,069.76. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Timothy M. Deane sold 8,621 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.76, for a total value of $5,092,941.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 134,631 shares of the company's stock, valued at $79,534,609.56. The trade was a 6.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 276,692 shares of company stock worth $169,030,834 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.
Applied Materials Trading Down 1.7%
Applied Materials stock opened at $484.19 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $154.46 and a 12-month high of $739.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $384.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $560.64 and a 200 day moving average of $453.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.99 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 30.05% and a return on equity of 38.02%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.
Applied Materials Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Applied Materials's payout ratio is 18.28%.
About Applied Materials
(
Free Report)
Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.
Applied Materials' offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.
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