Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. Purchases New Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 87,121 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,701,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $930,505,000. Cowa LLC bought a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at $76,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 79,147.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,726,422 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $557,639,000 after purchasing an additional 5,719,196 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,263,246 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,194,195,000 after purchasing an additional 4,277,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 252.3% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,874,853 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $104,241,000 after purchasing an additional 2,058,729 shares in the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AMAT shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $125.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.08.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.00, for a total transaction of $1,420,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 69,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,869,568. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.04, for a total value of $150,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 106,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,907,690.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Teri A. Little sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.00, for a total value of $1,420,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 69,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,869,568. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded down $1.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $145.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 964,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,001,254. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.17 billion, a PE ratio of 19.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.30 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $144.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.18. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.12 and a 52 week high of $155.26.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 17th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.16. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 49.29% and a net margin of 24.27%. The company had revenue of $6.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 7.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 22nd. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 16.89%.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc engages in the provision of manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. It 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.