Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Has $584,000 Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. increased its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,365 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,841,178,000 after acquiring an additional 672,548 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,826,373 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,994,968,000 after purchasing an additional 371,866 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,413,112 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,316,269,000 after purchasing an additional 858,122 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,861,933 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,790,554,000 after purchasing an additional 318,445 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AMAT. KeyCorp upgraded Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, November 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $218.95.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $192.05 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $191.30. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.78 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The firm has a market cap of $156.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.13. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 18.58%.

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.