Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Sold by AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC

AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC cut its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 20.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,153 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,088 shares during the quarter. AAFMAA Wealth Management & Trust LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 341.0% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $577,288,000 after acquiring an additional 2,209,218 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 67.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $942,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,153 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position 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 worth $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 87.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $379,275,000 after purchasing an additional 877,133 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AMAT. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Susquehanna cut their price target on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $250.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $218.24.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $170.86 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. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.84 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $192.18. The company has a market capitalization of $139.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.