Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Sold by Optimum Investment Advisors

Optimum Investment Advisors lessened its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,646 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors’ holdings in Applied Materials were worth $667,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,085,600,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $882,396,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 2,401.0% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $445,056,000 after purchasing an additional 2,944,193 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Applied Materials by 43.6% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 1,691,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,860,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,140,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,995 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Summit Insights downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. KeyCorp increased their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Applied Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $172.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.15.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.1%

AMAT stock opened at $228.75 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.63. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $232.07. The company has a market capitalization of $182.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 2.86 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 40.96% and a net margin of 23.88%.The firm had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.21 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.