RD Lewis Holdings Inc. Buys New Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

RD Lewis Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,236 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $582,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 2.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,244,566 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $857,615,000 after purchasing an additional 108,827 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 1.8% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $874,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 11.6% during the third quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 14,445 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,919,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Planning Directions Inc. raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 5.1% during the third quarter. Planning Directions Inc. now owns 2,023 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA raised its holdings in Applied Materials by 0.8% during the third quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 10,191 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,059,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $155.46 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $172.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.88. Applied Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.37 and a twelve month high of $255.89. The company has a market capitalization of $126.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, March 10th that allows the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the manufacturing equipment provider to reacquire up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is 24.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other Applied Materials 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 value of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,119,052.88. The trade was a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.