Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,840,727 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 137,582 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.22% of Applied Materials worth $298,327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 456,865 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,383,848,000 after purchasing an additional 570,080 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,968,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $687,936,000 after purchasing an additional 230,789 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,529,689 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $488,685,000 after purchasing an additional 32,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,831,986 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $458,980,000 after purchasing an additional 351,206 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on AMAT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded down $0.31 during trading on Monday, reaching $189.46. The company had a trading volume of 7,147,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,214,718. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.15 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $202.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $170.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

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

Applied Materials 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.