Norden Group LLC Purchases 123 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Norden Group LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,753 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 123 shares during the quarter. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Applied Materials during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, City Holding Co. bought a new position in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,119,052.88. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.9 %

AMAT opened at $158.07 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $175.38 and its 200-day moving average is $182.90. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $153.95 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $128.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. Equities research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 20.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.38.

About Applied Materials

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.