Legal Advantage Investments Inc. Sells 549 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Legal Advantage Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,171 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 549 shares during the period. Legal Advantage Investments Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Clean Yield Group bought a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. First PREMIER Bank boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 326.3% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 162 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 592.9% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 194 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. bought a new position in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Applied Materials from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.95.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $192.05 on Tuesday. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $190.58. The company has a market cap of $156.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a P/E/G 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 earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion for 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%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 (DPR) is presently 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.