Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Raises Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,927 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,549 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AMAT. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $773,611,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3,940.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,175,766 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $352,626,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121,912 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 126.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $464,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,111 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,117,176 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,012,171,000 after acquiring an additional 973,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $162,873,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMAT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upgraded Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $225.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.05.

Applied Materials Stock Down 2.3 %

AMAT opened at $192.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $210.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.21 and a 12 month high of $255.89.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued 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 0.83%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.