Carr Financial Group Corp Sells 334 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Carr Financial Group Corp trimmed its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,306 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 334 shares during the period. Carr Financial Group Corp’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMAT. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 408,483 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $84,239,000 after buying an additional 17,641 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Applied Materials by 483.9% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 62,732 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $12,937,000 after purchasing an additional 51,989 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 2.5% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 13,121 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $2,706,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 131.9% during the first quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. now owns 48,985 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,102,000 after purchasing an additional 27,864 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 414.2% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 21,968 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $4,530,000 after buying an additional 17,696 shares during the period. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AMAT. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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. Citigroup lowered their price target on Applied Materials from $240.00 to $217.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 16th. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Applied Materials from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Dbs Bank cut Applied Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.14.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $192.03 on Friday. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $141.94 and a 12-month high of $255.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $207.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $158.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.56.

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

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders 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 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Applied Materials’s dividend 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.