Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Raises Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,835 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,214 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $10,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Wallace Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 26.6% during the second quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,854 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $248,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.1% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 6,174 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 42.5% during the second quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 1,243,658 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $227,676,000 after buying an additional 370,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triton Financial Group Inc purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $2,292,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $200.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.15.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $220.56 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $189.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.94. 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 has a market cap of $175.71 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.82. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $232.07.

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. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.