HM Payson & Co. Buys 984 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

HM Payson & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,315 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 984 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,084,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Applied Materials by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 2,847 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $587,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,430 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 34,318 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,077,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 1st quarter worth approximately $699,000. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 31.9% during the first quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMAT shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Applied Materials stock opened at $181.58 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $129.21 and a 12-month high of $255.89.

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

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 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.