West Coast Financial LLC Has $1.20 Million Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

West Coast Financial LLC lowered its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMATFree Report) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,958 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 375 shares during the period. West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after buying an additional 891,446 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Applied Materials by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,226,581,000 after purchasing an additional 224,296 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,854,099 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $948,762,000 after purchasing an additional 116,808 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,189,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,070,167,000 after purchasing an additional 490,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,084,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,199,817,000 after acquiring an additional 81,151 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMAT. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. B. Riley cut their price target on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.14.

View Our Latest Analysis on AMAT

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT traded up $2.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $206.14. The stock had a trading volume of 999,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,001,768. The company’s fifty day moving average is $194.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $209.76. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.21 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMATGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.98%.

About Applied Materials

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)

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