Vident Advisory LLC Reduces Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Vident Advisory LLC trimmed its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT - Free Report) by 15.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,595 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 10,377 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $8,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter worth about $1,085,600,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2,401.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $445,056,000 after purchasing an additional 2,944,193 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 18,402.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,824,304 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $2,647,430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814,444 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,573,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $808,853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691,428 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,860,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock valued at $1,140,836,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,995 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 562 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.60, for a total value of $100,373.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,300 shares in the company, valued at $946,580. The trade was a 9.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMAT. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $180.00 price target (down from $190.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target (down from $225.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Cfra Research raised shares of Applied Materials to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target 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. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $193.88.

Read Our Latest Report on Applied Materials

Applied Materials Stock Down 2.7%

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NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $160.76 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $128.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.50. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $215.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.47.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business had revenue of $7.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. Applied Materials's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. Analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.93%.

Applied Materials Profile

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.

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