RNC Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

RNC Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) by 22.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,537 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,364 shares during the quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AMAT. Cowa LLC acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials in the 1st quarter valued at $76,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials in the second quarter valued at $167,770,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 32.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,311,447 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $435,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316,029 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the third quarter valued at about $95,175,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Applied Materials by 31.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,598,930 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $376,790,000 after buying an additional 1,099,462 shares during the period. 75.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMAT opened at $122.60 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $114.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.65. The company has a market capitalization of $103.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.43, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.61. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.12 and a 1-year high of $142.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.66 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 55.08% and a net margin of 24.57%. Applied Materials’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 7.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 24th. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.94%.

Applied Materials announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, March 13th that permits the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the manufacturing equipment provider to purchase up to 9.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on AMAT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Applied Materials to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, November 21st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Applied Materials in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Applied Materials from $88.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Barclays cut shares of Applied Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Applied Materials

In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 98,332 shares in the company, valued at $11,548,110.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 6,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total value of $800,118.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 98,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,548,110.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Xun Chen sold 377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.80, for a total value of $40,640.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 39,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,297,770.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Profile

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Applied Materials, Inc provides manufacturing equipment, services and software to the semiconductor, display and related industries. It operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display & Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment includes semiconductor capital equipment for etch, rapid thermal processing, deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, metrology and inspection, wafer packaging, and ion implantation.