Gold Investment Management Ltd. Grows Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Gold Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,887 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,066 shares during the period. Applied Materials comprises approximately 2.1% of Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Gold Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $5,666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings 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 valued at $1,140,836,000 after acquiring an additional 1,502,995 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 15.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 7,656,034 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,038,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,635 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,085,600,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,235,097 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on AMAT shares. Wolfe Research cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. Daiwa Capital Markets reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective (down from $185.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $180.00 target price (down from $190.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $194.15.

Applied Materials Stock Up 6.3%

Applied Materials stock opened at $217.74 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $123.74 and a 52 week high of $218.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $178.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.40. The stock has a market cap of $173.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.82.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.21 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.93%.

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.