Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Purchased by MONECO Advisors LLC

MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,974 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,077,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $340,895,000 after purchasing an additional 164,085 shares during the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 67,915 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $13,722,000 after purchasing an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,139,114 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after purchasing an additional 15,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,698,282 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $343,138,000 after purchasing an additional 653,739 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMAT. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $164.00 price objective (down from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.38.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $171.98 on Monday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $158.96 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The stock has a market cap of $139.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a fifty day moving average of $175.64 and a 200-day moving average of $183.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. As a group, analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

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.