Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 126 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.84.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT stock opened at $243.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $201.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.97, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.21 and a twelve month high of $249.42. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $220.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,223,763.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,223,763.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.62, for a total value of $554,050.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 76,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,890,103.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,827 shares of company stock valued at $21,382,560. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.