Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is Abrams Bison Investments LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Abrams Bison Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 38.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 750,000 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 210,000 shares during the period. Applied Materials comprises approximately 13.1% of Abrams Bison Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Abrams Bison Investments LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Applied Materials worth $151,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 5.7% in the second quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,879 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 89.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,988 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,101 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 234,519 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $55,344,000 after purchasing an additional 23,288 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $235.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.48.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $174.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $144.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $204.54. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.57 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.