Certified Advisory Corp Invests $221,000 in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Certified Advisory Corp bought a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 938 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $773,611,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 3,940.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,175,766 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $352,626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121,912 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 126.4% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $464,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259,111 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,117,176 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $12,012,171,000 after buying an additional 973,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the first quarter worth approximately $162,873,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report 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. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $231.05.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $194.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $160.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.21 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $197.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $210.04.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio 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.