Naples Global Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Naples Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,465 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $5,768,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake 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 worth $1,082,353,000 after purchasing an additional 84,130 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC now owns 6,972 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,134,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Davidson Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials by 39,811.1% during the 4th quarter. Davidson Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,960 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,921,000 after buying an additional 17,915 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,475,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 288,151 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,862,000 after acquiring an additional 7,197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp raised Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho 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 research note on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.00.

Applied Materials Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $180.89 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.96 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $175.20 and a 200 day moving average of $184.87. 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 capitalization of $147.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.