William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $8.41 Million Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Applied Materials by 53.3% in Q2, owning 45,938 shares valued at $8.41 million after selling 52,460 shares.
• Institutional investors own 80.56% of Applied Materials, with significant stake increases from firms such as Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. and Activest Wealth Management.
• Analysts have mixed ratings and price targets for Applied Materials, with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $209.15.

William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 53.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,938 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 52,460 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $8,410,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 972.2% during the first quarter. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 193 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Maseco LLP bought a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its position in Applied Materials by 435.0% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 214 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its position in Applied Materials by 5,325.0% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $209.15.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $228.13 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $232.07. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $187.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The business had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials's payout ratio is 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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