Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Bought by Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 51,582 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $8,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aldebaran Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $211,000. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $7,274,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 37,821 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $6,130,000 after acquiring an additional 6,001 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 132.7% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,704 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,707,000 after acquiring an additional 9,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 164,751 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $22,810,000 after acquiring an additional 39,194 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank Of America (Bofa) raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $200.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $109.15 and a one year high of $214.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $171.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.71.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.06%.

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.