Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 70.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,893 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,234 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $7,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter worth approximately $661,000. Certified Advisory Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $221,000. DRW Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1,432.0% in the second quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 5,168 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 5,556 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 31.3% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 141,413 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,372,000 after purchasing an additional 33,742 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $165.00 to $225.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective 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. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.05.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $196.78 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $196.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $209.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $162.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.62, a P/E/G 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. Applied Materials’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.39%.

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.