Valley National Advisers Inc. Has $2.94 Million Holdings in Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,240 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Applied Materials were worth $2,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Applied Materials in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 0.9% in the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,626,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management increased its stake in Applied Materials by 4.9% in the first quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 1,941 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $400,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its stake in Applied Materials by 0.8% in the first quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 37,574 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,749,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Applied Materials by 11.3% in the first quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,770 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,634,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Applied Materials news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total value of $1,597,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 78,712 shares in the company, valued at $16,767,230.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Teri A. Little sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.02, for a total transaction of $1,597,650.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 78,712 shares in the company, valued at $16,767,230.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Prabu G. Raja sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.17, for a total transaction of $12,458,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 458,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,223,763.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,827 shares of company stock worth $21,382,560. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Applied Materials Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of AMAT traded up $2.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $243.31. 2,768,742 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,733,284. The firm has a market cap of $201.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.56. Applied Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $129.21 and a 12-month high of $249.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $220.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.19.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.12. Applied Materials had a net margin of 27.57% and a return on equity of 41.22%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 8.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Applied Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Applied Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on AMAT. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, May 17th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $160.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Applied Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.84.

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.