Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC Acquires 789 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 74.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,853 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 11,822.8% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 19,911 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,757,000 after purchasing an additional 19,744 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter worth $249,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 14.4% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,625 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,517,000 after buying an additional 4,105 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 149.8% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,137 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,234,000 after buying an additional 9,678 shares during the period. Finally, EHP Funds Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter worth $263,000. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 458,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total value of $2,325,559.55. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,639,630.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,827 shares of company stock worth $21,382,560. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on AMAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, May 17th. Barclays upgraded shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $165.00 to $225.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.84.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.5 %

AMAT stock opened at $240.86 on Wednesday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.21 and a 1-year high of $249.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.80 and a quick ratio of 1.97. The company has a market capitalization of $199.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.69, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $219.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.63.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 41.22% and a net margin of 27.57%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

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.