HTLF Bank Acquires Shares of 4,642 Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

HTLF Bank purchased a new stake in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,642 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $752,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Applied Materials by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,669 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $757,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp grew its position in Applied Materials by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp now owns 7,242 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd grew its position in Applied Materials by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 37,541 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $6,084,000 after acquiring an additional 6,655 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Applied Materials by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 129,277 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $20,952,000 after acquiring an additional 16,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in Applied Materials by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 43,342 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $7,024,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank Of America (Bofa) upped their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Raymond James upped their price target on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $189.77 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $157.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $202.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.15 and a 52 week high of $214.91.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.