Cape Investment Advisory Inc. Increases Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,290 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 9,896 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,608,000 after buying an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 198,858 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $32,340,000 after buying an additional 80,220 shares in the last quarter. Geller Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geller Advisors LLC now owns 3,212 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Humankind Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Humankind Investments LLC now owns 1,503 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total transaction of $100,373.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at $946,580. This trade represents a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $162.75 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $180.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $164.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.76. The stock has a market cap of $129.65 billion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.77. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $215.70.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $7.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AMAT. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $209.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 15th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $225.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $180.00 price objective (down previously from $190.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Seventeen 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.88.

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.