Columbus Macro LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Free Report) by 26.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,358 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.6% in the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 9,143 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Sargent Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 1,415 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 5.3% in the third quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 1,093 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Field & Main Bank raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 3,170 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.3% during the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,259 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $860,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AMAT shares. Evercore ISI decreased their target price 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. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.71.
Applied Materials Stock Down 0.1 %
Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $178.56 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $174.56 and its 200 day moving average is $186.14. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $158.96 and a 52 week high of $255.89. 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 company has a market cap of $145.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.74, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.53.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.
Applied Materials Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.
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.
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