Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. Acquires New Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,590 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alhambra Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 5.0% during the first quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 1,950 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 5.4% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,849,953 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $268,465,000 after acquiring an additional 94,861 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 10,385 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 2,814 shares during the period. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,188 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,106,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sonora Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC now owns 9,510 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Applied Materials from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Edward Jones raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $195.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.29.

Applied Materials Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of AMAT opened at $173.77 on Wednesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $123.74 and a 12 month high of $255.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $153.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $163.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market cap of $139.45 billion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.67.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 22.38%.

Applied Materials announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CEO Gary E. Dickerson acquired 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $137.30 per share, for a total transaction of $6,865,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,716,058 shares in the company, valued at $235,614,763.40. This trade represents a 3.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.83, for a total value of $65,173.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $880,131.91. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Applied Materials 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.