New York Life Investment Management LLC Has $21.28 Million Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 131,271 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $21,275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,032,850 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,389,048,000 after acquiring an additional 456,865 shares during the period. 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 valued at $1,383,848,000 after buying an additional 570,080 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 4.9% during 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 buying an additional 230,789 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,838,268 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $622,068,000 after acquiring an additional 308,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,831,986 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $458,980,000 after purchasing an additional 351,206 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMAT. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, 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 note 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock traded down $4.66 on Wednesday, hitting $193.99. 5,811,090 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,052,120. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $111.20 and a 1-year high of $214.91. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $161.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $203.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.81.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 0.82%. 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 payout ratio is presently 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.