Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Sold by Artemis Investment Management LLP

Artemis Investment Management LLP lessened its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 18.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 119,052 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 27,519 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $60,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 80,212,518 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $57,993,650,000 after buying an additional 1,237,685 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 85.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 69,525,842 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $50,267,184,000 after buying an additional 32,018,892 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,808,207 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,645,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,876 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 16.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,713,599 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,576,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $5,252,863,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. HC Wainwright set a $850.00 price target on Applied Materials in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $642.00 to $563.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Evercore increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $515.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $575.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $640.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $479.25, for a total transaction of $3,594,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 128,613 shares in the company, valued at $61,637,780.25. This trade represents a 5.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Judy Bruner sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $465.00, for a total value of $465,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 25,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,877,960. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,225 shares of company stock valued at $4,454,181. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT traded down $12.01 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $508.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,495,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,867,614. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $203.40 and a 52 week high of $739.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $488.74 and its 200-day moving average is $480.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.42. The firm has a market cap of $403.66 billion, a PE ratio of 43.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.60.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 30.05% and a return on equity of 38.02%. The firm had revenue of $9.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.28%.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a global supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat-panel displays and other advanced electronic products. Its technologies help customers build and enhance materials at the nanoscale, supporting processes such as deposition, etching, inspection, metrology and packaging.

The company’s offerings include semiconductor manufacturing systems, process-control and inspection equipment, and services designed to improve the performance, productivity and longevity of production equipment.