Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Has $1.02 Million Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,269 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $1,016,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMAT. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Applied Materials by 47.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,724,217 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $441,514,000 after acquiring an additional 778,716 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 6.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,995,287 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $1,383,848,000 after acquiring an additional 570,080 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 13,929.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 511,357 shares during the period. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 117.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 500,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $185.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Applied Materials from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Applied Materials from $175.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.50.

Applied Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Applied Materials stock opened at $196.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $163.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.59. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $203.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $111.20 and a 1-year 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $6.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.48 billion. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.03% and a return on equity of 43.56%. The business’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.03 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.04 EPS for the current year.

Applied Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Applied Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio 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.