Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Sold by Institute for Wealth Management LLC.

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lowered its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,323 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 65 shares during the quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,434,684 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,720,928,000 after purchasing an additional 301,010 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,032,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,389,048,000 after purchasing an additional 456,865 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after purchasing an additional 570,080 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 25.1% during the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 9,609,330 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,388,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925,722 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $930,505,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of AMAT traded down $4.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $189.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,717,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,163,679. The business has a fifty day moving average of $202.53 and a 200 day moving average of $169.24. The company has a market cap of $157.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $109.15 and a 1 year high of $214.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.06%.

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.