Nuance Investments LLC Decreases Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Nuance Investments LLC lowered its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 78.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,420 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 79,391 shares during the quarter. Nuance Investments LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $4,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the first quarter worth about $1,085,600,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $882,396,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2,401.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $445,056,000 after buying an additional 2,944,193 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 43.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,691,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $209.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Daiwa Capital Markets restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $170.00 price target (down from $185.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Cfra Research raised shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Eighteen research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.96.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $230.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $183.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.42, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $242.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $205.31 and its 200 day moving average is $184.28.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results 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. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.96% and a net margin of 23.88%.The company had revenue of $7.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials’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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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