Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas Increases Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas boosted its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,265 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 4,505 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 177,866 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $28,827,000 after purchasing an additional 31,534 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 11,241 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,505 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,837,000 after purchasing an additional 6,937 shares during the period. Finally, Monument Capital Management grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AMAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT remained flat at $193.24 during trading on Wednesday. 1,803,042 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,136,564. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $202.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.71. The stock has a market cap of $160.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.15 and a fifty-two week high of $214.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.06%.

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.