Blume Capital Management Inc. Sells 475 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Blume Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 43,476 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 475 shares during the quarter. Applied Materials accounts for 1.8% of Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $7,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Applied Materials by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,032,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,389,048,000 after buying an additional 456,865 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Applied Materials by 6.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 570,080 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 130,238 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,968,838 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $687,936,000 after purchasing an additional 230,789 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,494,928 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $728,493,000 after buying an additional 66,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of research reports. B. Riley raised their price target on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Mizuho increased their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

NASDAQ AMAT traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $207.35. The stock had a trading volume of 302,870 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,841,704. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $113.91 and a 52-week high of $214.91. The company has a market cap of $172.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.05.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.03 EPS. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. 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.