Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 1,064,092 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,956,500 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,064,092 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.48% of Applied Materials worth $846,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,841,178,000 after acquiring an additional 672,548 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,826,373 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,994,968,000 after acquiring an additional 371,866 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 5.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,316,269,000 after acquiring an additional 858,122 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,861,933 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,790,554,000 after acquiring an additional 318,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.2 %

AMAT opened at $169.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $139.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.52. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.05 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $183.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $201.92.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AMAT shares. Mizuho lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.29.

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.