American International Group Inc. Has $29.79 Million Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

American International Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 305,933 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 18,204 shares during the period. American International Group Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $29,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 55.0% during the third quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 372 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 256.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,055 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 400 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Destiny Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on AMAT shares. B. Riley increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 19th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Applied Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $133.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 6th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $136.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 19th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $125.00 to $112.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.96.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT traded up $4.87 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $135.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,384,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,230,261. The company has a market cap of $114.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.60. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.12 and a 52-week high of $135.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $112.19.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 18th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $6.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 52.81% and a net margin of 24.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.85 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 24th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 16.89%.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, March 13th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the manufacturing equipment provider to buy up to 9.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total transaction of $3,671,666.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 194,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,228,960.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Omkaram Nalamasu sold 29,444 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total value of $3,671,666.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 194,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,228,960.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 98,332 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,548,110.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Applied Materials

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Applied Materials, Inc provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the semiconductor, display and related industries. It operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display & Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment includes semiconductor capital equipment for etch, rapid thermal processing, deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, metrology and inspection, wafer packaging, and ion implantation.