Nordea Investment Management AB Has $245.71 Million Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,693,151 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,684 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $245,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Applied Materials by 0.9% during the first quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,072 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,402 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,155,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Green Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 17,213 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First National Bank of Omaha lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. First National Bank of Omaha now owns 2,644 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $325,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT traded down $4.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $140.52. 2,171,086 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,988,432. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $131.51. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.12 and a 52-week high of $155.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.60.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 24th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Applied Materials from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 14th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Applied Materials from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 18th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $152.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Finally, B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $150.00 to $175.00 in a report on Monday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Brice Hill sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.04, for a total transaction of $150,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 106,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,907,690.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 10,000 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 7th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $9,869,568. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 1,000 shares of the company’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 transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.