Sigma Planning Corp Buys 414 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Sigma Planning Corp increased its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,803 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in Applied Materials by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,841,178,000 after purchasing an additional 672,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,826,373 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,994,968,000 after buying an additional 371,866 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $3,316,269,000 after acquiring an additional 858,122 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,790,554,000 after acquiring an additional 318,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,655,308 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,082,353,000 after acquiring an additional 84,130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT opened at $171.98 on Monday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $158.96 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $175.64 and a 200 day moving average of $183.90. The firm has a market cap of $139.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 20.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased 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 note on Tuesday, February 11th. KeyCorp raised 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 target price (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.38.

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.