Cidel Asset Management Inc. Grows Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,860,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,140,836,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,995 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 7,656,034 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,038,504,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046,635 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,085,600,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 20.7% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 7,189,402 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,043,326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 43.6% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 1,691,428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $224.99 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.57. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year high of $232.07. The company has a market cap of $179.24 billion, a PE ratio of 26.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.82.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $7.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s 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 forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $209.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Summit Insights downgraded Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. Eighteen 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.08.

About Applied Materials

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.