Brighton Jones LLC Purchases 816 Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,439 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 816 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMAT. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,618 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 3rd quarter worth about $165,000. RMR Wealth Builders boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,393 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,460 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 105,522 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,609,000 after acquiring an additional 4,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock opened at $198.65 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $111.20 and a fifty-two week high of $214.91. The firm has a market cap of $165.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.59. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $203.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.81.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.13 earnings per share 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 in the previous year, the company posted $2.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The company 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. 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 0.81%. Applied Materials’s payout ratio is currently 15.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their price target on Applied Materials from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Applied Materials from $142.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Citigroup raised their price target on Applied Materials from $170.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, B. Riley raised their price objective on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

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.