900 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Acquired by Beaton Management Co. Inc.

Beaton Management Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 900 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter worth about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 56.0% in the 2nd quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new position in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. B. Riley lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.00.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $196.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.61, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $199.38 and a 200-day moving average of $210.28. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.21 and a 52-week 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

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

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.