Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Raises Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. $AMAT

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 211.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 90,630 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,562 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $16,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Shelton Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $622,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.7% during the second quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,958 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,601 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $256.00 to $252.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Citigroup increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $205.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. Finally, Craig Hallum reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.74.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $226.01 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $212.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $187.06. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $123.74 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $180.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.84.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.06. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 40.96% and a net margin of 23.88%.The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.380 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.