Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Position Raised by Grimes & Company Inc.

Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,814 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 883 shares during the quarter. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $11,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,039,667 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $12,528,961,000 after buying an additional 487,358 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,079,451 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $3,260,178,000 after buying an additional 253,078 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Applied Materials by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,230,464 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,663,780,000 after buying an additional 1,602,645 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,588,422,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,338,520 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,356,094,000 after buying an additional 587,036 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $880,131.91. The trade was a 6.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson bought 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $137.30 per share, with a total value of $6,865,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,716,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,614,763.40. The trade was a 3.00% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $176.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $163.10. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $123.74 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The firm has a market cap of $141.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.67.

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

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated 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. cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.29.

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.