Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Grows Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 82.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,000,215 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 452,462 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.12% of Applied Materials worth $236,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. JT Stratford LLC grew its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 10,890 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,246,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 924 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $191,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 1,556 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 4,016 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.7% during the second quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMAT. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. B. Riley dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Applied Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $232.00.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $196.71 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $199.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.28. The firm has a market cap of $162.87 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.21 and a 1-year high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. Applied Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 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.