Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. Sells 4,190 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 64.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,330 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,190 shares during the quarter. Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $773,611,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3,940.1% in the fourth 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 raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 126.4% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $464,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,111 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Applied Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,117,176 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,012,171,000 after purchasing an additional 973,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. bought a new position in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $162,873,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank cut Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.05.

Applied Materials Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $192.16 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $198.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.17. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.21 and a 1 year high of $255.89. 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 company 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 (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its 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. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 18.39%.

Applied Materials Company 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.