Kidder Stephen W Acquires Shares of 4,050 Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Kidder Stephen W acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,050 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $741,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 28.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 1,860 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Tounjian Advisory Partners LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth approximately $998,000. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 38.6% during the 1st quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 206,289 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $29,937,000 after buying an additional 57,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fourpath Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Fourpath Capital Management LLC now owns 9,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,388,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Cfra Research raised Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.12.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $211.56 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $180.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $226.49. The stock has a market cap of $168.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.82.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast 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, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 21.93%.

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.