Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Sells 85 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,189 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 85 shares during the quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,005,192 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,566,418,000 after acquiring an additional 682,098 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,738,382 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,226,581,000 after buying an additional 224,296 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,260,630 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,322,280,000 after acquiring an additional 360,002 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 5,854,099 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $948,762,000 after purchasing an additional 116,808 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $194.04 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $197.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.04. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.21 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The company has a market cap of $160.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 18.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 16th. 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 report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $231.05.

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.