UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Has $6.04 Million Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lowered its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,253 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,150 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials accounts for about 1.8% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,038,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 47.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,480,780 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,464,000 after purchasing an additional 793,610 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,724,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $441,514,000 after acquiring an additional 778,716 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Applied Materials by 142.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,140,314 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $176,029,000 after acquiring an additional 669,898 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after buying an additional 570,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 13,929.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 515,028 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $834,710,000 after buying an additional 511,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) increased their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded down $1.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $207.32. 3,085,591 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,936,911. The business has a 50 day moving average of $204.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.53. 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 1 year low of $112.86 and a 1 year high of $214.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.57, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.58.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.48 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 15.06%.

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.