Cornerstone Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC increased its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 47.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,300 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 24,600 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $12,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $857,615,000 after purchasing an additional 108,827 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 18.0% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,352 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.5% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 43,712 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,832,000 after buying an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp grew its stake in Applied Materials by 0.8% during the third quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 9,389 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,897,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 31.6% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,242 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,100,000 after acquiring an additional 6,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AMAT. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total value of $46,807.12. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,119,052.88. This trade represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $149.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.88 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $173.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $180.46. The company has a market cap of $121.86 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. Research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.92%.

Applied Materials announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the manufacturing equipment provider to buy up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Applied Materials

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.