Essex Financial Services Inc. Increases Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,444 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 47.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,480,780 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,464,000 after buying an additional 793,610 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,724,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $441,514,000 after buying an additional 778,716 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,383,848,000 after buying an additional 570,080 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 13,929.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 515,028 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $834,710,000 after buying an additional 511,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 117.6% in the 3rd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 926,917 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $128,341,000 after buying an additional 500,900 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $204.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $169.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.58. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $111.72 and a 1 year high of $214.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.13.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AMAT. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

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.