Eastern Bank Buys 17,668 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Eastern Bank grew its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 120,355 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,668 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $24,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 56.0% in the second quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clean Yield Group purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AMAT. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.1 %

Applied Materials stock traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $184.32. The company had a trading volume of 3,121,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,080,288. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.21 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $195.44 and its 200-day moving average is $209.11.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

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.