Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Sells 3,653 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,374 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,653 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $3,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,709 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Applied Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $204,000. Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in Applied Materials by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 30,900 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $6,243,000 after buying an additional 4,801 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $598,000. Finally, Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 0.5% in the third quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 30,866 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,236,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AMAT. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Applied Materials from $260.00 to $235.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $183.38 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $136.67 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $191.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $207.63. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.99% and a net margin of 27.74%. Applied Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.98%.

Applied Materials Company 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.