1,330 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Bought by Castle Wealth Management LLC

Castle Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,330 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $7,274,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 132.7% during the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,704 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after purchasing an additional 9,527 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 31.2% during the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 164,751 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $22,810,000 after purchasing an additional 39,194 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.3% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,161,556 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $299,267,000 after purchasing an additional 6,466 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 9.1% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 830,038 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $114,919,000 after purchasing an additional 69,388 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Bank Of America (Bofa) boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Applied Materials in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $225.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ AMAT traded down $4.55 on Friday, hitting $189.77. 6,493,512 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,204,208. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $109.15 and a 52-week high of $214.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $157.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $202.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $169.59. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The business had revenue of $6.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

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.