California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 37,777 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

California State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) by 2.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,463,846 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 37,777 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $119,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Applied Materials by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,020,894 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $134,555,000 after buying an additional 54,261 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its position in Applied Materials by 92.3% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,180 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 1,526 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in Applied Materials by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 8,981 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,184,000 after buying an additional 1,604 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $315,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 2,215 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. 75.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares in the company, valued at $11,548,110.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Applied Materials news, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total value of $40,640.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 39,868 shares in the company, valued at $4,297,770.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 98,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,548,110.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AMAT. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $118.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $132.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, KGI Securities raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.16.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $118.48 on Thursday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $71.12 and a 12 month high of $142.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.13 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.61.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 55.08% and a net margin of 24.57%. The business had revenue of $6.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 7.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 13.94%.

About Applied Materials

(Get Rating)

Applied Materials, Inc provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the semiconductor, display and related industries. It operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display & Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment includes semiconductor capital equipment for etch, rapid thermal processing, deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, metrology and inspection, wafer packaging, and ion implantation.