Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Down 1.3% – Here’s What Happened
by Renee Jackson · The Cerbat GemApplied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Free Report)’s share price fell 1.3% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $290.00 and last traded at $292.20. 6,072,247 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 22% from the average session volume of 7,815,205 shares. The stock had previously closed at $296.01.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Bank of America upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold 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 $246.78.
Read Our Latest Report on Applied Materials
Applied Materials Trading Down 1.3%
The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $231.70 billion, a PE ratio of 33.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.67.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 24.67%.The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Applied Materials Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.20%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials
In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.24, for a total value of $952,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,095,782.24. This trade represents a 4.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 609 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.53, for a total transaction of $155,617.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,127,653.89. This trade represents a 12.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 8,609 shares of company stock valued at $2,044,898 over the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFG Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1,008.1% in the second quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 36,156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,619,000 after purchasing an additional 32,893 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its position in Applied Materials by 23.0% during the second quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 12,643 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,315,000 after buying an additional 2,363 shares in the last quarter. Sienna Gestion raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 10.2% in the second quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 113,221 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $18,924,000 after acquiring an additional 10,468 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 31.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 145,277 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,601,000 after acquiring an additional 35,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 13,360.6% in the 2nd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 694,431 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $127,129,000 after purchasing an additional 689,272 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.
About Applied Materials
Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.
Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.