Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Sells 86,018 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lessened its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 967,736 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 86,018 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned about 0.12% of Applied Materials worth $177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,409,320,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth $1,085,600,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $882,396,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Applied Materials by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,573,673 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $808,853,000 after buying an additional 1,691,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 4,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.08, for a total value of $936,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 88,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,681,202.08. The trade was a 4.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Daiwa America downgraded Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $170.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $256.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.74.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $224.01 on Monday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $242.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 2.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $218.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $189.89. The stock has a market cap of $178.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a net margin of 23.88% and a return on equity of 40.96%. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.20%.

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.