Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $8 Million Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,347 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,038 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $7,998,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,032,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,389,048,000 after purchasing an additional 456,865 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,383,848,000 after acquiring an additional 570,080 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,017,147 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $813,129,000 after acquiring an additional 130,238 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Applied Materials by 4.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,968,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $687,936,000 after acquiring an additional 230,789 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Applied Materials by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,838,268 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $622,068,000 after acquiring an additional 308,579 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. B. Riley upped their price target on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Bank Of America (Bofa) lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of AMAT stock traded up $4.77 on Monday, reaching $208.86. 3,637,820 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,968,247. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.71 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Applied Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $112.86 and a one year high of $214.91. The stock has a market cap of $173.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $204.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.53.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 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.