EP Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 66,386 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,650 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $47,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Harborfront Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $633.53, for a total value of $6,335,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 346,642 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,608,106.26. This trade represents a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson sold 20,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $735.22, for a total value of $14,704,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,599,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,176,236,570.46. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 276,692 shares of company stock valued at $169,030,834. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMAT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Argus set a $600.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $510.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $605.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Applied Materials from $540.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $659.83.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $484.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $560.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $453.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.42. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $154.46 and a one year high of $739.67. The firm has a market cap of $384.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.74, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.61.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $9.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.28%.

About Applied Materials

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.