Mather Group LLC. Has $3.23 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,931 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 76.9% in the third quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 230 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. L2 Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 795.0% during the third quarter. L2 Asset Management LLC now owns 29,606 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 26,298 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. 80.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank Of America (Bofa) upped their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $205.26 on Tuesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $111.20 and a 52-week high of $214.91. The company has a market cap of $170.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.59. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $172.40.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 0.78%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

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.