Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Bought by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 358,786 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $65,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 19.4% during the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 94,619 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $13,731,000 after purchasing an additional 15,377 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 9.4% during the first quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 2,078 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 2.6% during the first quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,246 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 4.3% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 22,390 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,362,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $180.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Daiwa America cut shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.96.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $230.07 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $242.50. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $205.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $183.96.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The business had revenue of $7.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.93%.

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.