Banco Santander S.A. Boosts Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 96,077 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,441 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $17,589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 27.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,571 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,824,000 after buying an additional 2,711 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 11.8% in the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 4,285 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the first quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,145 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $892,000 after buying an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 200.4% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 2,842 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 1,896 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, August 15th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, August 20th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.15.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $228.75 on Monday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $123.74 and a fifty-two week high of $232.07. The company has a market capitalization of $182.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.82. 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 (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $7.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. 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.