Monument Capital Management Has $300,000 Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Monument Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the quarter. Monument Capital Management’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $300,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings 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 valued at $1,389,048,000 after acquiring an additional 456,865 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Applied Materials by 6.0% in the third 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $687,936,000 after purchasing an additional 230,789 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,529,689 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $488,685,000 after purchasing an additional 32,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 14.2% during 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 buying an additional 351,206 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT stock opened at $189.46 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $202.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.38. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.15 and a fifty-two week high of $214.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders 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 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%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AMAT. UBS Group increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

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.