Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT Shares Bought by Argus Investors Counsel Inc.

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,193 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,683,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at about $1,085,600,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $882,396,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2,401.0% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $445,056,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944,193 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Applied Materials by 43.6% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 1,691,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,502,995 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased 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 note on Friday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Daiwa Capital Markets reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price target (down previously from $185.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Seventeen 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $194.15.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $203.92 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $167.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.77. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $215.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The firm had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. The business’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. Analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.