Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Acquires 2,783 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 25.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,869 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,783 shares during the quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 51.2% during the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 18,785 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,055,000 after acquiring an additional 6,364 shares during the period. Skye Global Management LP bought a new position in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,862,000. Cable Hill Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 3,485 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $567,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 9,896 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,608,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 71,577 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $11,640,000 after buying an additional 9,672 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $166.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $133.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.67. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $123.74 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $152.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $163.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.12 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials declared that its board has authorized a share 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 purchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $235.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $162.00 to $158.00 in a report on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total value of $65,173.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $880,131.91. This trade represents a 6.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson purchased 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $137.30 per share, for a total transaction of $6,865,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.