NorthRock Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

NorthRock Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,475 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 564 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,085,600,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter worth $882,396,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in 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 worth $445,056,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944,193 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in 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 worth $808,853,000 after acquiring an additional 1,691,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 23.6% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,860,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,140,836,000 after buying an additional 1,502,995 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Applied Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $172.00 to $209.00 in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Summit Insights downgraded Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.50.

Applied Materials Stock Down 4.7%

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $209.95 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $167.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.02, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.79. 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 twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $226.49.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.96% and a net margin of 23.88%.The company had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter 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, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.93%.

Applied Materials Profile

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.