Foster & Motley Inc. Purchases 1,448 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Foster & Motley Inc. grew its stake in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 14.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,241 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,448 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 47.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,480,780 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $343,464,000 after buying an additional 793,610 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in Applied Materials by 40.0% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,724,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $441,514,000 after buying an additional 778,716 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Applied Materials by 6.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after buying an additional 570,080 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Applied Materials by 13,929.6% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 515,028 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $834,710,000 after buying an additional 511,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its stake in Applied Materials by 117.6% in the third quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 926,917 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $128,341,000 after buying an additional 500,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $190.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $170.38. The company has a market cap of $158.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.59. Applied Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.15 and a fifty-two week high of $214.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.71.

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

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 15.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMAT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $156.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Company 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.