Evexia Wealth LLC Acquires New Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Evexia Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,736 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1,069.9% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,079,977 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $175,637,000 after buying an additional 987,660 shares during the period. Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 3,315 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its stake in Applied Materials by 611.5% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 824,407 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $129,477,000 after purchasing an additional 708,541 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 46,156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,506,000 after purchasing an additional 10,005 shares during the period. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3,316.1% in the fourth quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 297,238 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $48,340,000 after purchasing an additional 288,537 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,119,052.88. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $137.30 per share, with a total value of $6,865,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,716,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $235,614,763.40. The trade was a 3.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 2.9 %

AMAT stock opened at $128.96 on Wednesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $123.74 and a 12-month high of $255.89. The business’s 50-day moving average is $159.55 and its 200 day moving average is $173.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $104.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.61.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Edward Jones raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.67.

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.