Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Acquires 34,230 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1,500.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,511 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,230 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 4.4% in the second quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 13,475 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,467,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 14.7% in the second quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 47,374 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,673,000 after acquiring an additional 6,068 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 15.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 89,256 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,340,000 after acquiring an additional 11,961 shares during the period. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.9% in the second quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 14,232 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,605,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. Finally, Delaney Dennis R purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at about $383,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective (down previously from $185.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.54.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $219.48 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $123.74 and a 1 year high of $226.49. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $183.33 and its 200 day moving average is $172.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.82.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.36 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The business’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 21.93%.

Applied Materials Company 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.