J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,962 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 0.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,434,684 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,720,928,000 after buying an additional 301,010 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,032,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,389,048,000 after buying an additional 456,865 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% in the third 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 last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 25.1% in the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $930,505,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Raymond James raised their target price on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ AMAT traded down $4.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $189.77. The stock had a trading volume of 6,495,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,179,863. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $109.15 and a 1 year high of $214.91. The stock has a market cap of $157.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $202.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

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

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.