Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Sells 20,874 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. decreased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 433,796 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 20,874 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned approximately 0.05% of Applied Materials worth $313,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 12,696 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $9,179,000 after purchasing an additional 2,004 shares during the period. Rational Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 15.8% during the second quarter. Rational Advisors Inc. now owns 300 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co boosted its position in Applied Materials by 88.5% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 2,351 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at about $5,375,000. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.6% in the second quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 27,359 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $19,781,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $458.46 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $154.46 and a 52-week high of $739.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $363.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $547.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $458.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.42.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 30.05% and a return on equity of 38.02%. The company had revenue of $9.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.99 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Erste Group Bank cut Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $605.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $510.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Argus set a $600.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $657.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 24,263 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.43, for a total transaction of $14,398,392.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 146,916 shares in the company, valued at $87,184,361.88. This trade represents a 14.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,250 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $599.77, for a total value of $5,547,872.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 40,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,326,071.43. This represents a 18.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 284,192 shares of company stock valued at $172,625,209 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.