Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Down 4.5% – Time to Sell?

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) dropped 4.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $568.15 and last traded at $575.39. Approximately 7,086,048 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 8,320,447 shares. The stock had previously closed at $602.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $420.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Truist Financial set a $575.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $715.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.48.

Applied Materials Stock Down 4.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $456.72 billion, a PE ratio of 54.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.57. The business’s 50 day moving average is $517.90 and its 200-day moving average is $403.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The company’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.39 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.13 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 19.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 24,263 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.43, for a total transaction of $14,398,392.09. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 146,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,184,361.88. This trade represents a 14.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.28, for a total value of $25,264,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 356,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $180,204,069.76. This trade represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 278,088 shares of company stock valued at $169,654,805 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 4.3% during the second quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 409 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.1% in the second quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 0.7% during the first quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,288 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,124,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 2.2% in the second quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,040 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $752,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 34.8% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 93 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.