Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price Down 4.5% – Time to Sell?

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares fell 4.5% on Monday . The company traded as low as $568.15 and last traded at $575.39. 7,086,048 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 8,320,447 shares. The stock had previously closed at $602.50.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on AMAT shares. Truist Financial set a $575.00 price target on Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $525.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $715.00 to $740.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Applied Materials from $502.00 to $647.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $525.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.48.

Applied Materials Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $525.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $407.88. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $472.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.93, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.57.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $7.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 29.31% and a return on equity of 36.97%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.39 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.160-3.560 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 12.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $505.28, for a total value of $25,264,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 356,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $180,204,069.76. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Timothy M. Deane sold 8,621 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $590.76, for a total value of $5,092,941.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 134,631 shares in the company, valued at $79,534,609.56. This represents a 6.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 278,088 shares of company stock worth $169,654,805 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Applied Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Evolve Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 59.0% during the 1st quarter. Evolve Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,875 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,531,000. World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 82,296 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $21,149,000 after buying an additional 3,508 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,082,000. Finally, Avity Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.1% in the third quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 223,211 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,700,000 after buying an additional 2,376 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.