Private Advisor Group LLC Acquires 5,658 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 21.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,033 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $5,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aldebaran Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $211,000. Sycomore Asset Management raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 55.6% in the fourth quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 33,107 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,437,000 after buying an additional 11,825 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,274,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $2,707,000 after buying an additional 9,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $6,130,000 after acquiring an additional 6,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Susquehanna lifted 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. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $207.36 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $112.86 and a 52 week high of $214.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $204.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $172.29 billion, a PE ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.58.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.82%.

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.