Leelyn Smith LLC Increases Position in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Leelyn Smith LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,210 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 871 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials makes up 0.9% of Leelyn Smith LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Leelyn Smith LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $5,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at about $1,085,600,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $882,396,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 2,401.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,066,817 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $445,056,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944,193 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 43.6% during 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. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 23.6% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,860,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,140,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,502,995 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on AMAT. Cfra Research upgraded Applied Materials to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Redburn Atlantic cut Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Daiwa America lowered Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.15.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $228.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $182.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.82. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $232.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.18 and a 200 day moving average of $177.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 21.93%.

Applied Materials Company 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.