Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Sold by SRN Advisors LLC

SRN Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,656 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 233 shares during the quarter. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Applied Materials during the first quarter worth approximately $773,611,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted 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 valued at $464,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,111 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 262.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,390,501 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $280,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,937 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 891,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at about $162,873,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AMAT. B. Riley lowered 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. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $186.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $154.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $193.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.41. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.21 and a 12 month high of $255.89. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.