Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Acquired by Martingale Asset Management L P

Martingale Asset Management L P grew its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,229 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $11,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Clean Yield Group acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. First PREMIER Bank increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 326.3% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 56.0% during the 2nd quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMAT. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Dbs Bank downgraded Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.48.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $174.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.03 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.57 and a 1 year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.