Fifth Third Bancorp Decreases Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Fifth Third Bancorp reduced its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 12.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 490,447 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 70,979 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $89,786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.5% during the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.8% during the second quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.7% during the second quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,958 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Old Port Advisors increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.5% during the first quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 2,730 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.7% in the first quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 1,506 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AMAT shares. Daiwa America lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $180.00 price target (down from $190.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Daiwa Capital Markets reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $170.00 price target (down from $185.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report 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 for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $194.15.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of AMAT opened at $200.87 on Wednesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $215.70. The company has a market cap of $160.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.23.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.