Lincoln National Corp Sells 610 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Lincoln National Corp decreased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,045 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 610 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position 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 worth $343,464,000 after buying an additional 793,610 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 40.0% during 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 last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings 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 increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after purchasing an additional 570,080 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 13,929.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $207.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $204.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.05. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $112.86 and a one year high of $214.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.82%.

Applied Materials Company 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.