Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 192 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,996 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,039,667 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,528,961,000 after buying an additional 487,358 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 38,808,047 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,841,178,000 after acquiring an additional 672,548 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Applied Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,079,451 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,260,178,000 after acquiring an additional 253,078 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Applied Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,588,422,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Applied Materials by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 8,338,520 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,356,094,000 after purchasing an additional 587,036 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Applied Materials Stock Up 0.4 %

AMAT opened at $145.66 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $165.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.62. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.16 and a fifty-two week high of $255.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, March 10th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the manufacturing equipment provider to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 271 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.72, for a total transaction of $46,807.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,119,052.88. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMAT. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Applied Materials from $230.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Edward Jones raised shares of Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.67.

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.