Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Purchased by Catalyst Financial Partners LLC

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,496 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $729,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 16.6% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 65,361 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $9,049,000 after purchasing an additional 9,292 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,819 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 204,511 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,961,000 after purchasing an additional 44,582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baystate Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Applied Materials by 54.6% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 487 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT traded down $1.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $206.33. 2,758,180 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,869,017. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $204.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.28. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $113.91 and a 12-month high of $214.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.58.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.82%.

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.