Sienna Gestion Sells 139 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Sienna Gestion cut its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.1% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 114,005 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 139 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials accounts for approximately 2.4% of Sienna Gestion’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Sienna Gestion’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $26,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after acquiring an additional 891,446 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,005,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,566,418,000 after purchasing an additional 682,098 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Applied Materials by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 224,296 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Applied Materials by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,260,630 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,322,280,000 after purchasing an additional 360,002 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,854,099 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $948,762,000 after buying an additional 116,808 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AMAT. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.00.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $186.14 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $200.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $210.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The company has a market cap of $154.12 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.21 and a 12 month high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The firm had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total transaction of $2,325,559.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 49,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,639,630.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.