Stiles Financial Services Inc Buys 889 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,516 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 889 shares during the quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Shelton Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.5% during the second quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% in the second quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.8% in the second quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,433 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.7% in the second quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,958 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.4% in the second quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,601 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $220.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $182.00 and a 200-day moving average of $171.09. The stock has a market cap of $175.50 billion, a PE ratio of 26.26, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.82. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $226.49. 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 (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.910-2.310 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AMAT. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Applied Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $172.00 to $209.00 in a report on Monday, September 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.81.

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.