Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Acquired by Bleakley Financial Group LLC

Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 5.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,707 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,655 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $6,608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. B. Riley dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.14.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $183.24 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $129.21 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The stock has a market cap of $151.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $209.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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 disclosed 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. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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%.

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.