Global Assets Advisory LLC Buys Shares of 1,061 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,061 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the first quarter worth $773,611,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 126.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $464,974,000 after buying an additional 1,259,111 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Applied Materials by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after buying an additional 891,446 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth $162,873,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 20.4% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,623,048 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $953,411,000 after purchasing an additional 784,780 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $183.75 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $194.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.75. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $129.21 and a one year high of $255.89. The firm has a market cap of $152.14 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AMAT. B. Riley decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Dbs Bank cut shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.14.

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.