3,450 Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Acquired by Trust Point Inc.

Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,450 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $559,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,020,894 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $134,555,000 after buying an additional 54,261 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 92.3% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,180 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 1,526 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 8,981 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,184,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $315,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 12.6% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.83.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of AMAT opened at $203.39 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $194.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.12. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $109.00 and a twelve month high of $214.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.40, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.59.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 15.06%.

About Applied Materials

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.