Bath Savings Trust Co Purchases New Shares in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Bath Savings Trust Co purchased a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,000 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials during the 1st quarter worth $773,611,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 buying an additional 2,121,912 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 126.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $464,974,000 after buying an additional 1,259,111 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% in 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 buying an additional 973,218 shares during the period. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at about $162,873,000. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $200.88 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $166.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.09, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $194.38 and a 200 day moving average of $209.90. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $129.21 and a 12 month high of $255.89.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.39%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday. 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. StockNews.com lowered Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $228.90.

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.