Addison Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 980 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 149.4% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 444 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 86.3% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $426,000 after buying an additional 1,424 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the third quarter worth about $405,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Applied Materials by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 296,277 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $41,020,000 after acquiring an additional 3,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jmac Enterprises LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 2,254 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT traded up $5.88 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $203.38. The company had a trading volume of 3,933,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,553,379. The firm has a market cap of $168.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.93, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $203.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $171.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.15 and a 52 week 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 the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. The company 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%. Applied Materials’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors 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 yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 15.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI started coverage on Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued 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 research report on Monday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Bank Of America (Bofa) boosted their price objective 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.50.

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.