Connecticut Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Connecticut Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,471 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 793,610 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew 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 purchasing an additional 778,716 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Applied Materials by 142.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,140,314 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $176,029,000 after purchasing an additional 669,898 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew 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 purchasing an additional 570,080 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 511,357 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AMAT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT traded up $4.09 on Monday, hitting $208.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,653,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,945,694. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.01. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $112.86 and a 1 year high of $214.91. The company has a market capitalization of $172.98 billion, a PE ratio of 24.01, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.06%.

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.