Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC Buys 856 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 37.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,156 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 856 shares during the quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $513,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 341.0% in the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,857,155 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $577,288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,218 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 67.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,663,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $942,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,153 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 29.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,571,178 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,327,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509,439 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch SE boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 126.6% in the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 1,600,078 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,221,000 after purchasing an additional 893,995 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 87.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,877,133 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $379,275,000 after purchasing an additional 877,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMAT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 29th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $200.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $194.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $250.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.38.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $46,807.12. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,119,052.88. This represents a 4.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMAT opened at $165.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $175.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $183.56. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $158.96 and a 52-week high of $255.89. The stock has a market cap of $134.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.53.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.10. Applied Materials had a net margin of 22.95% and a return on equity of 39.50%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

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.