Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Sells 3,464 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. decreased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 332,826 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,464 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $55,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMAT. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 341.0% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $577,288,000 after buying an additional 2,209,218 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 67.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $942,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,884,153 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 262.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $280,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 87.7% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $379,275,000 after purchasing an additional 877,133 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of AMAT opened at $184.27 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $158.96 and a 1 year high of $255.89. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $184.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $149.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 26.41% and a return on equity of 39.26%. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued 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 0.87%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 target price (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.00.

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.