Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 93 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,059 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $658,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,274,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 132.7% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,704 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 9,527 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 164,751 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $22,810,000 after purchasing an additional 39,194 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,161,556 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $299,267,000 after purchasing an additional 6,466 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 830,038 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $114,919,000 after buying an additional 69,388 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $209.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $174.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $109.00 and a 12-month high of $214.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $201.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.85.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 15.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

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.