GraniteShares Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

GraniteShares Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 13.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,117 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 323 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 9.6% in the second quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 3,451 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 31,565.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 555,090 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $80,233,000 after acquiring an additional 553,337 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 8,170 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 5,370 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. 77.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMAT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $150.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 18th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Thursday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $185.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.59.

Insider Activity at Applied Materials

In related news, CFO Brice Hill sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.04, for a total value of $150,040.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $154.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.68 and a fifty-two week high of $155.26. The stock has a market cap of $129.99 billion, a PE ratio of 20.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $139.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.47.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 17th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.16. Applied Materials had a net margin of 24.27% and a return on equity of 49.29%. The business had revenue of $6.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 7.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 24th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 16.89%.

About Applied Materials

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.