Avanza Fonder AB Acquires Shares of 85,207 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 85,207 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,857,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Procyon Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 12,059 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,961,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Woodstock Corp increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Woodstock Corp now owns 30,189 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,910,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $163,000. Goldstone Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 54.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 1,809 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 28,239 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,592,000 after buying an additional 1,939 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $190.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $173.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.80 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.53. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.78 and a 52 week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.96 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.26% and a net margin of 26.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 EPS. Analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price target (down previously from $179.00) on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $217.41.

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.