Cetera Trust Company N.A Takes $162,000 Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 998 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $162,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kaizen Financial Strategies boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Kaizen Financial Strategies now owns 3,733 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 2,900 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 1,721 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,894 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,343 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $601,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.3 %

Applied Materials stock opened at $192.25 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $202.61 and a 200 day moving average of $170.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $109.15 and a 12-month high of $214.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMAT. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Profile

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.