Sen. Purchases Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Senator (R-Florida) recently bought shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT). In a filing disclosed on February 21st, the Senator disclosed that they had bought between $100,001 and $250,000 in Applied Materials stock on January 22nd.

Senator also recently made the following trade(s):

• Purchased $50,001 – $100,000 in shares of Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) on 1/22/2025.
• Purchased $50,001 – $100,000 in shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) on 1/22/2025.
• Sold $50,001 – $100,000 in shares of Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) on 1/21/2025.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $171.98 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $158.96 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.86. The company has a market cap of $139.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 20.92%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,039,667 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,528,961,000 after purchasing an additional 487,358 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,841,178,000 after purchasing an additional 672,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,079,451 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,260,178,000 after purchasing an additional 253,078 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,316,269,000 after purchasing an additional 858,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Applied Materials by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,663,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,602,645 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.38.

About Senator

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.