Arvest Investments Inc. Buys 71 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Arvest Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,961 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Arvest Investments Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 47.0% in the third quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 67,915 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $13,722,000 after acquiring an additional 21,699 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 252.0% in the third quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 4,734 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 3,389 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 89.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,988 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,239 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 5.7% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,338 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,327,707,000 after acquiring an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on AMAT shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $215.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMAT traded down $2.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $192.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,767,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,360,265. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.94 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $190.99 and its 200-day moving average is $207.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market cap of $158.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.56.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The business’s revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 17.98%.

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.