Legal & General Group Plc Has $1.19 Billion Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,488,792 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 107,759 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,187,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maseco LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 435.0% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 214 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 5,325.0% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quaker Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 133.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 218 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Daiwa America lowered Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Daiwa Capital Markets reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective (down previously from $185.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Summit Insights downgraded Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $205.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.74.

Applied Materials Stock Down 6.3%

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $220.23 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $175.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a PEG 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $217.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.92.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.32 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.20%.

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.