Bell Bank Buys 127 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Bell Bank raised its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,179 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 127 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. JT Stratford LLC grew its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 0.4% during the first quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 10,890 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,246,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 3.3% during the second quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 1,556 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors raised its position in Applied Materials by 1.3% in the second quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors now owns 4,016 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.6% during the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 9,143 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,847,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $224.00 to $185.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. B. Riley cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.24.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $182.79 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $150.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.94 and a 52 week high of $255.89. The business has a 50 day moving average of $190.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 39.99%. The company had revenue of $6.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.51 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is presently 17.98%.

Applied Materials 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.