Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Trims Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC decreased its holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,400 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Carret Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 35,180 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,721,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. increased its stake in Applied Materials by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 24,629 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,005,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter worth $4,651,000. Blume Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 39,989 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $6,503,000 after purchasing an additional 787 shares during the period. Finally, Aviso Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 157.2% during the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 4,560 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $742,000 after buying an additional 2,787 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $155.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company has a market cap of $126.46 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $172.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $179.36. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.37 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 39.50% and a net margin of 22.95%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, March 10th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the manufacturing equipment provider to buy up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 24.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,119,052.88. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMAT. Barclays cut their price target on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Edward Jones upgraded Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Applied Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.38.

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.