Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Position Lowered by BDF Gestion

BDF Gestion cut its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,949 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,150 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials accounts for about 1.2% of BDF Gestion’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. BDF Gestion’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $8,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.6% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 80,212,518 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $57,993,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,685 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 85.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 69,525,842 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $50,267,184,000 after purchasing an additional 32,018,892 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted 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 purchasing an additional 1,246,876 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 16.2% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 1,073,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,252,863,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $675.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Evercore set a $590.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $720.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $645.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $530.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $632.70.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded up $10.37 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $419.66. 2,648,672 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,865,418. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.79. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $203.40 and a twelve month high of $739.67. The company has a market cap of $333.04 billion, a PE ratio of 36.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $480.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $486.23.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $544.56, for a total value of $394,806.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,181 shares in the company, valued at $1,732,245.36. This trade represents a 18.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 7,500 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.25, for a total transaction of $3,594,375.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 128,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,637,780.25. This represents a 5.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 9,225 shares of company stock valued at $4,454,181 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc is a technology company that supplies equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductors and advanced displays. Its products help customers fabricate the integrated circuits and other components used in computers, mobile devices, data centers, automobiles and a range of connected technologies.

The company’s offerings include systems for materials engineering, wafer fabrication, inspection and process control, along with equipment and services designed to improve manufacturing productivity and yield.