Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Bought by IFP Advisors Inc

IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,578 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,957 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $10,540,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Harborfront Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $472.79 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $375.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $523.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $462.73. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.75 and a 12 month high of $739.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $9.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.99 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 38.02% and a net margin of 30.05%.Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 24.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $715.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $550.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Applied Materials from $575.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, HSBC restated a “buy” rating and set a $683.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Monday, July 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Timothy Deane sold 8,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $590.76, for a total value of $5,092,941.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 134,631 shares in the company, valued at $79,534,609.56. This trade represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,250 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $599.77, for a total value of $5,547,872.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 40,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,326,071.43. This trade represents a 18.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 231,692 shares of company stock valued at $146,114,059. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a global provider of materials engineering solutions used to manufacture semiconductors, displays and other advanced electronic products. The company develops and supplies equipment, services and software that help customers build and improve the performance of chips and display panels.

Its semiconductor products support processes including deposition, etch, patterning, inspection, metrology and materials modification. Applied Materials also provides equipment and services for display manufacturing, including technologies used in producing liquid-crystal and organic light-emitting diode displays, as well as solutions for adjacent markets such as solar and other specialty applications.

Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Applied Materials serves semiconductor and display manufacturers worldwide through operations, customer-support centers and research and development activities across major technology-producing regions.