Creative Planning Has $43.91 Million Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Creative Planning raised its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 13.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,520 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,348 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $43,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $773,611,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 126.4% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,254,952 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $464,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259,111 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.2% during 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. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Applied Materials during the first quarter valued at approximately $162,873,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,623,048 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $953,411,000 after buying an additional 784,780 shares in the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $245.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Dbs Bank cut shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. B. Riley reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Applied Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMAT opened at $186.36 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $195.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.23. The company has a market capitalization of $154.30 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $129.21 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.