Optimum Investment Advisors Decreases Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Optimum Investment Advisors cut its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,646 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors’ holdings in Applied Materials were worth $667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Shelton Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,135,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,601 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMAT. Bank of America upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $180.00 to $250.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Daiwa Capital Markets restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $170.00 target price (down from $185.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.15.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $228.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $182.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.82. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $232.07. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.63.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $7.30 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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