Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Bought by Field & Main Bank

Field & Main Bank increased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,540 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Field & Main Bank’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $574,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 47.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,480,780 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $343,464,000 after buying an additional 793,610 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,724,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $441,514,000 after purchasing an additional 778,716 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 6.0% during the 3rd 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. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 511,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 117.6% in the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 926,917 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $128,341,000 after purchasing an additional 500,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI began coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.9 %

AMAT traded up $1.88 during trading on Monday, reaching $205.26. 2,786,965 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,081,282. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.40. 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 fifty-two week low of $111.20 and a fifty-two week high of $214.91. The stock has a market cap of $170.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.59.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.