Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Bought by Brighton Jones LLC

Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 33.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,231 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,042 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 56.0% in the second quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AMAT shares. B. Riley cut their target price on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays raised Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. StockNews.com lowered Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $232.00.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT opened at $196.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $162.87 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $199.38 and a 200-day moving average of $210.28. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.21 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.39%.

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.