Florida Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 407 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Florida Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,763 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 341.0% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $577,288,000 after buying an additional 2,209,218 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 67.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $942,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,153 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $182,962,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth $157,426,000. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 126.6% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 1,600,078 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,221,000 after acquiring an additional 893,995 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total value of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

AMAT stock opened at $154.95 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $125.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.37 and a 1 year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Edward Jones raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has a consensus 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.