Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Down 1.4% – Should You Sell?

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) traded down 1.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $411.51 and last traded at $415.38. Approximately 5,468,426 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 8,026,436 shares. The stock had previously closed at $421.17.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Craig Hallum upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $530.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Applied Materials from $715.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $675.00 to $695.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.45.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $329.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $507.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $465.08.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.25, for a total value of $3,594,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 128,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,637,780.25. This represents a 5.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson sold 58,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $700.36, for a total value of $40,845,695.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,619,843 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,473,243.48. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 96,821 shares of company stock worth $65,944,771. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 80,212,518 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $57,993,650,000 after buying an additional 1,237,685 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 119.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 32,707,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,405,458,000 after buying an additional 17,829,377 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,808,207 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,645,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,876 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 16.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,713,599 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,576,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,879 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $5,252,863,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Company 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.