Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Trims Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 59.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,543,905 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,295,810 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $311,946,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Clean Yield Group bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the third quarter worth $33,000. First PREMIER Bank grew its stake in Applied Materials by 326.3% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 56.0% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. Dbs Bank lowered Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. B. Riley lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $219.81.

Applied Materials Trading Up 3.1 %

AMAT opened at $175.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $144.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.57 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $190.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $205.97.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.