Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC Purchases 650 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,971 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 650 shares during the quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,666 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,409,000 after acquiring an additional 2,895 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial Strategies Inc. now owns 5,327 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 335.4% in the 4th quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,049 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 11,593 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,746 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,704,880 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $277,264,000 after buying an additional 42,506 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 6.5 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $174.57 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.04 billion, a PE ratio of 20.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $158.96 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $188.61.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AMAT. Barclays lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price target (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.71.

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.