Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 118,813 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 9,418 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $19,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AM Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Applied Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,970,000. KLCM Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 3,438 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 1,406 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Applied Materials during the 4th quarter worth $232,000. Slow Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Applied Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $207,000. Finally, Sfmg LLC grew its stake in Applied Materials by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 56,086 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,090,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on AMAT shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho upped their target price on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $197.36 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $163.99 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.59. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $202.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.06. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.12 and a 52 week high of $214.91.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.23. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 27.03%. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.06%.

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.