Cetera Investment Advisers Sells 56,147 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Cetera Investment Advisers cut its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 19.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 234,414 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 56,147 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Applied Materials were worth $55,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JT Stratford LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $2,246,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its position in Applied Materials by 5.6% in the first quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 924 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its position in Applied Materials by 3.3% in the second quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 1,556 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Optimum Investment Advisors grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 1.3% in the second quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 4,016 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $948,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.7% in the 2nd 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on AMAT shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Dbs Bank downgraded shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Applied Materials from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Applied Materials from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.05.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $197.20 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $194.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $210.01. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.21 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.28 billion, a PE ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.55.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.39%.

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.