Interchange Capital Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Interchange Capital Partners LLC reduced its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,505 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Interchange Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after buying an additional 891,446 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 10.4% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,189,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,070,167,000 after buying an additional 490,597 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,084,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,199,817,000 after buying an additional 81,151 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 9.5% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,061,739 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,194,520,000 after buying an additional 438,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $857,615,000 after buying an additional 108,827 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.0 %

AMAT stock opened at $183.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $151.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $136.67 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $191.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.58.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.14.

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.