State Street Corp trimmed its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 38,407,152 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock after selling 483,397 shares during the period. State Street Corp's holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,146,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,020,894 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $134,555,000 after purchasing an additional 54,261 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 92.3% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,180 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 8,981 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $1,184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth $315,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 2,215 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider's stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. 75.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
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Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have commented on AMAT shares. Cowen reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $279.00 to $271.00 in a report on Friday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Susquehanna Bancshares lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $80.00 to $92.00 in a report on Friday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $118.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $129.16.
Insider Activity at Applied Materials
In other Applied Materials news, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total transaction of $40,640.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 39,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,297,770.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Applied Materials news, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total transaction of $40,640.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 39,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,297,770.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,548,110.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Applied Materials Price Performance
Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $114.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.12 and a twelve month high of $142.01. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $112.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.94. The firm has a market cap of $96.67 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.61.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 55.08% and a net margin of 24.57%. The firm had revenue of $6.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Applied Materials's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 7.01 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, March 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 23rd will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Applied Materials's dividend payout ratio is presently 13.94%.
Applied Materials Company Profile
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Applied Materials, Inc provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the semiconductor, display and related industries. It operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display & Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment includes semiconductor capital equipment for etch, rapid thermal processing, deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, metrology and inspection, wafer packaging, and ion implantation.
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