Insigneo Advisory Services LLC Has $474,000 Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Insigneo Advisory Services LLC cut its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 10.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,265 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 372 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 17,246 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,805,000 after buying an additional 2,536 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 16,004 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,603,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,674 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $15,303,000. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,862 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AMAT. Edward Jones upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $205.00 to $195.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Bank of America dropped their price objective 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 reduced their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $215.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $190.00 to $160.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.29.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $172.84 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $163.24. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $123.74 and a 1-year high of $255.89. The company has a market cap of $138.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.08. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.06% and a return on equity of 40.15%. The company 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 business earned $2.09 EPS. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.38%.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 450 shares of Applied Materials 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 this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary E. Dickerson acquired 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were acquired 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 in the company, valued at $235,614,763.40. The trade was a 3.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.