Montag A & Associates Inc. Sells 764 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Montag A & Associates Inc. reduced its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,200 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 764 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $8,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.5% during the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Narus Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,958 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 3.4% during the second quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,601 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Eighteen 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.96.

Applied Materials Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $235.08 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $242.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $206.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $187.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.96% and a net margin of 23.88%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.