KCM Investment Advisors LLC Sells 1,005 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

KCM Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 43,545 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,005 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $14,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,225 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. Forefront Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $410,000. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 30.1% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 15,003 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 3,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 59.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 422,694 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $77,383,000 after purchasing an additional 157,426 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $575.00 target price on Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $683.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Applied Materials from $650.00 to $850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $570.00 to $705.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $575.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $599.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CEO Gary E. Dickerson sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $735.22, for a total transaction of $14,704,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,599,843 shares in the company, valued at $1,176,236,570.46. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $599.77, for a total transaction of $5,547,872.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 40,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,326,071.43. The trade was a 18.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 278,088 shares of company stock valued at $169,654,805 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Applied Materials Trading Down 3.6%

AMAT opened at $516.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $546.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $425.63. The company has a market capitalization of $410.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.53, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.57. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $154.46 and a 52 week high of $739.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.18. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 36.97% and a net margin of 29.31%.The business had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. Analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 19.91%.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.