Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. Buys Shares of 1,135 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,135 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 10.2% during the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 6,999 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $969,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 9.2% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 286,616 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,682,000 after acquiring an additional 24,167 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 22.9% during the third quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 4,709 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 877 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 3.6% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 7,440 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 81.9% during the third quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 57,842 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $8,008,000 after buying an additional 26,042 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Stock Up 1.5 %

Applied Materials stock traded up $3.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $235.99. 6,387,433 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,592,667. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $129.21 and a 52-week high of $249.42. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $218.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $195.56.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.57% and a return on equity of 41.22%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.39%.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Materials news, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total transaction of $2,325,559.55. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,639,630.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Applied Materials news, Director Thomas J. Iannotti sold 9,827 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $236.65, for a total transaction of $2,325,559.55. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,639,630.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.34, for a total transaction of $4,446,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,091,873.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,827 shares of company stock valued at $21,382,560 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AMAT shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.84.

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.