Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Invests $437,000 in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,698 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $437,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 47.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,480,780 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,464,000 after buying an additional 793,610 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in Applied Materials by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,724,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $441,514,000 after purchasing an additional 778,716 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Applied Materials by 142.4% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,140,314 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $176,029,000 after purchasing an additional 669,898 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after buying an additional 570,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 13,929.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 515,028 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $834,710,000 after buying an additional 511,357 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. B. Riley increased their price target on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price target on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded up $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $207.36. 2,842,351 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,903,436. The company has a market capitalization of $172.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.58. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $204.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $112.86 and a twelve month high of $214.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

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.