Cornerstone Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Cornerstone Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,700 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $15,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.8% during the second quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,135,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC grew its position 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 period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.4% in the second quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,601 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AMAT shares. Craig Hallum restated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $256.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.74.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $226.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.76. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $242.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $212.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $187.06.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.96% and a net margin of 23.88%.The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 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 presently 21.20%.

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.