Weiss Asset Management LP Invests $697,000 in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 2,040 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $697,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMAT. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 48.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 116 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Joseph Group Capital Management purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $516.89 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $546.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $425.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $410.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.53, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.57. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $154.46 and a 1-year high of $739.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The firm had revenue of $7.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 19.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CEO Gary E. Dickerson sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $735.22, for a total value of $14,704,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,599,843 shares in the company, valued at $1,176,236,570.46. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 24,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $593.43, for a total transaction of $14,398,392.09. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 146,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,184,361.88. The trade was a 14.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 278,088 shares of company stock worth $169,654,805. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $525.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $599.19.

Applied Materials Company Profile

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.