Ignite Planners LLC Trims Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Ignite Planners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 9.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,485 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 265 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,008,622 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,469,028,000 after purchasing an additional 891,446 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 224,296 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 2.0% during 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 worth $948,762,000 after acquiring an additional 116,808 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,189,202 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,070,167,000 after acquiring an additional 490,597 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,084,186 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,199,817,000 after acquiring an additional 81,151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMAT. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Friday, August 16th. Dbs Bank downgraded Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group reduced their target price 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, StockNews.com downgraded Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $228.90.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

AMAT stock opened at $200.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.54. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $129.21 and a 12-month high of $255.89. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $194.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $209.90.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. 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.